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A look ahead at Nuit Blanche Toronto 2016

Nuit Blanche Toronto announced this year’s programming for the 11th edition of the city’s most popular contemporary art festival. To mark the occasion, participating artist and architect Philip Beesley opened his Sterling Road studio to media on Tuesday, alongside curator Janine Marchessault, Emily Scarlett of sponsor H&M and the City of Toronto’s manager of cultural events programming, Kristine Germann.

This year, Nuit Blanche Toronto is a little smaller, with more than 90 art projects presented by 300+ artists, both local and international. The festival’s Special Projects will again add cachet to the event, with work by world-renowned artists such as Bruce Nauman, whose focus is the activity of walking and its relation to art. The AGO, Harbourfront and the Drake are just a few of the Major Institutions opening their doors for the night to participate.

But what makes Nuit Blanche so successful is how accessible the works are and the variety of spaces which host exhibitions. More than 50 Independent Projects will be scattered throughout the city in spaces varying from artist run-centres like Whippersnapper Gallery, who will host a “parasitic swarm of kinetic sound sculptures” by Saskatoon’s Andreas Buchwaldt, to organizations such as the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, which will host a sound installation reflecting on wellness and recovery. At Tuesday’s announcement, Germann likened Nuit Blanche to a laboratory which incubates collaborative artistic and curatorial projects to promote innovative and thoughtful ideas.

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Sue Holland

Philip Beesley’s Sterling Road studio could easily be mistaken for a laboratory. Material samples and notes line the walls, with his team hard at work cutting and repurposing discarded denim provided through sponsor H&M’s Garment Collecting Initiative. Repurposing is central to Oblivion, one of four City of Toronto-produced exhibitions for Nuit Blanche.

Oblivion, featuring beloved Canadian music video directors Director X and Floria Sigismondi in addition to Beesley, is co-curated by Janine Marchessault and Michael Prokopow. Nathan Phillips Square and City Hall will be transformed with works meant to encourage existential reflection through its literal and metaphorical cosmic and elemental aspects. Marchessault conceptualizes the exhibition through Buckminster Fuller’s theory, described in his Utopia or Oblivion, that if we don’t ration the Earth’s resources so that 100 per cent of people on the planet can sustain themselves, we will end up in oblivion.

“[The theme is] the chance to conceive of things that completely embrace all of us,” says Beesley. His work in progress, Ocean, will be an immersive environment that not only interacts with its audience but also with itself.   

Nuit Blanche Toronto takes place Saturday, October 1 from sunset to sunrise. See the full program here.

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