Nuit Blanche returns this weekend for its 20th anniversary! Expect more than 70 contemporary art projects to take over Toronto’s streets and public spaces from sunset to sunrise, running from 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 3 until 7 a.m. on Sunday, Oct. 4. As always, admission is completely free.
This year’s theme is Tomorrow’s Memories and looks back at the artists and places that have shaped Nuit Blanche over the past two decades. Since the event first arrived in the city in 2006, it’s featured almost 1,800 installations by 6,350 artists, so this weekend should be very nostalgic.
And while there are dozens of works to explore this year, these 10 might be the wildest.
1. A UFO is crashing into downtown Toronto
Where: 130-132 Queen St. W., near Queen St. W. and University Ave.
What’s Nuit Blanche without a bit of surrealism? Artist Brandon Vickerd’s UFO will take over the area around Queen St. W. and University Ave. with a large-scale sculpture depicting an old-school flying saucer that’s collided with a crushed car (complete with theatrical smoke and lights, naturally). Expect dreamlike Cold War-era UFO imagery as the work explores our fascination with conspiracy theories and the shared stories that shape cultural identity.
2. A police-car dance party underneath City Hall
Where: Toronto City Hall underground parking garage, 100 Queen St. W.
Brendan Fernandes’ On Flashing Lights was originally featured at Nuit Blanche in 2018, and now it’s back for the festival’s 20th anniversary. The work explores ideas around safe spaces, queer resistance and collective gathering. A formation of police vehicles will fill the garage, with their flashing lights and pulsing rhythms setting the scene for a dance party (live DJs include Toronto DJs Nino Brown and Krishawn).
3. A giant glowing monument to old Toronto
Where: Queen St. W. and Bay St.
If you’re nostalgic for MuchMusic, Honest Ed’s or the days of Sam the Record Man, make a pit stop at I Miss You: T.Dot Memories. The huge, illuminated inflatable was created by Francesca Nocera (aka SUN SUN) and is covered with illustrations of popular Toronto landmarks and cultural spaces that have disappeared or dramatically changed over the years. It’s a literal glowing monument to collective memory and Toronto’s changing landscape!
4. A Museum of Lost Things
Where: Former Library of Justice, Room 155, Old City Hall, 60 Queen St. W.
Old City Hall is getting an entire museum devoted to things people no longer have. Artists Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky asked people to think of objects they had lost, given away or used up. Those memories were then transformed into three-dimensional lantern-like sculptures made from watercolour, beeswax and wire.
5. Old City Hall will become an instrument (literally)
Where: Old City Hall, 60 Queen St. W.
Also inside Old City Hall, you might hear something you wouldn’t expect from the historic building: a giant pipe organ powered by industrial air compressors (no human organist here). Maggy Hamel-Metsos’ Simile Aria is a monumental sound installation spread across six locations throughout the building, with reconstructed organ pipes transforming the metallic sounds of industrial air compressors into something resembling the cries of a pipe organ. It’s a weird and haunting “exploration of breath,” and a must-hear if you’re into eerie experiences.
6. A glowing crystal lotus will float on water
Where: Aga Khan Park, 77 Wynford Dr.
Toronto-based studio JAH Qube is bringing a massive luminous sculpture inspired by a floating lotus flower to the centre pool at Aga Khan Park. “materia prima” is made from rip-stop nylon stretched across an aluminum skeleton, creating a glowing reminder of the essence hidden within every form.
7. The CN Tower will light up with signals from deep space
Where: CN Tower, 290 Bremner Blvd.
For Sources (Toronto), artist Andrés Ramírez Gaviria is transforming astronomical radio signals, including signals emitted by pulsars and quasars billions of years ago, into sequences of light that will cascade down the CN Tower! The installation will be presented for 30 minutes at the top of each hour throughout the night, turning the Tower into a massive canvas and connecting the city to signals originating far beyond it (we’re getting Twilight Zone vibes). Commissioned by the Toronto Biennial of Art.
8. A giant origami boat will be covered in Toronto’s wishes
Where: 5100 Yonge St., near North York Centre
Artist Negar Pooya’s The Wishing Boat begins as a giant white origami boat (a small prototype is pictured above). Throughout the night, visitors will be given markers and invited to write wishes, poems or messages directly onto it in any language. By sunrise, the once-blank boat is expected to be covered in hundreds of people’s handwriting! Pooya connects the work to her own experience arriving in Toronto 25 years ago, with the boat representing the hope that comes with leaving one place for another. Bonus: the entire transformation will also be filmed as a time-lapse.
9. A marching band made out of… well, marching bands
Where: City Hall ramp and Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St. W.
Think of this installation as a living cuckoo clock, except instead of a tiny bird popping out every hour, you get an entire marching band. Lisa Kiss’ band band clock brings together professional musicians and enthusiasts from across Toronto to form what organizers describe as a “marching band of marching bands.” The group will be led by drum major Keith Cole and appear on the City Hall ramp every hour before processing across Nathan Phillips Square, using live music to mark the passing hours of Nuit Blanche.
10. Bioluminescent salmon will swim through Toronto’s lost river
Where: Canoe Landing area, CityPlace/Fort York (you can reach this installation via the 509 Harbourfront or 510 Spadina streetcars).
Brian Leclerc’s Garrison Creek evokes the creek that once flowed through Toronto before much of it was buried beneath the growing city. The digital installation takes the form of a swarm of glowing, bioluminescent salmon whose behaviour changes in response to live sound, creating a virtual ecosystem at Canoe Landing.
Oh, and if you can’t make it Saturday night, some installations will remain on view as part of Nuit Blanche’s extended program from Oct. 5 to 10. Extended works include UFO, Simile Aria, Museum of Lost Things, I Miss You: T.Dot Memories, Echoes of the Apiary and Ephemera: The Art We Didn’t Make (perfect if you prefer smaller crowds).