Snake Charmer - DSC_2831ED

Snake Charmer - DSC_2831ED, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

Port at Night DSC_2853ED

Port at Night DSC_2853ED, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

Event Horizon

In one moment I could feel it contract

   and expand all at once.
Everything I've ever done had brought me there,

   to that single moment,

And everything that I could ever do lay ahead of me.

It was breathtaking.

[Event horizons: 01.11.1969 01.11.2009 ...]

Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2009 - A Visual Journey

I managed to get to as many of the projects as I could, spread over the 3 zones of the Nuit Blanche canvas. You can get a sense of what I was looking at by visiting my Flickr Collection for the entire night.

Here's a few sample shots (you can click through to see more of that particular collection)

A Sultry World

A Sultry World 00 - DSC_2414ED_SM, originally uploaded by @ThetaState.

A SULTRY WORLD, 1995-2009

Norico Sunayama - Gifu, Japan

Live Installation at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2009

Pre-Nuit Blanche - Planning for a great night out!!!

First of all, some of you may ask what exactly is "Nuit Blanche". Well, according to the official website it's:

An all night free contemporary art thing.

For one sleepless night experience the city transformed by close to 500 artists for Toronto's fourth annual sunset to sunrise celebration of contemporary art. Discover art in galleries, museums and unexpected places. From churches and grocery stores to chimney stacks and bus stations, choose from 130 projects and chart your own path.

I've attended a number of these over the years and I have to say that they're a BLAST. Especially since the city takes on a very different character when spaces which are private, or have limited public access, become public. Then there's the magic of freely roaming through a transformed city, where familiar places are altered with light and sound, objects and performances.

In a city that is often obsessed with the composition of the outward faces that our buildings present to the public, we often forget that the these outward looking facades also define the public street spaces that we all move through each day. Nuit Blanche provides an opportunity for Toronto to turn itself inside out. In many ways, it will be the external spaces, often unconsidered during the day, which will be thronging with people, light, and activity all night long. And the buildings, who's internal spaces will be void and dark for a change, will provide definition and context to the evenings events with their walls the define their innards.

I'm hoping to visit all 3 zones this year, and use this evening as an opportunity to feel out a Toronto that has a different weave and texture than I'm used to during the day. I'm hoping to find a Toronto that is more whimsical, more thoughtful, and much, much more public.