NuWe Blanche. 2011.
My independent mobile nuit blanche giant outstallation art returned for a third year.
This year though, in a nod to expected cuts to City Hall arts funding by the Ford Regime, I cut back the amount of Giant Letters used to four, down from eleven.
Biking and wandering the different zones all night with only four of my giant N U W E letters turned out to be quite manageable. Without volunteers this year, handling all eleven giant N U W E B L A N C H E letters and co-ordinating a dozen or so people for each photo myself would have been quite challenging.
First stop was atop Queen’s Park North. The triangle traffic island had become an impromptu stage for Asian improv troupe, Asiansploitation.
I met them earlier in the day doing a sneak peek performance in Christie Pits Park. They entertained the crowd with a sketch based on my suggestion of Performing the Job of Mayor of Toronto. A hilarious on-the-spot display that ended with the elimination of bike lanes… which in fact, is happening right now along Pharmacy Avenue in Scarborough. They have a show coming up on November 11-12 (George Ignatieff Theatre) and I hope people can make it out. I’m intending to see them again.
Four members of Asiansploitation and one member from the audience answered my request to hold up N U W E. And with that first photo captured “NuWe” Blanche 2011 was off and running.
The second stop for the night… sucked. Unlike 2010 when this turned out to be one of the best NuWe Blanche stops, there was not much going on in front of The Royal Ontario Museum tonight. Unofficially, it became a random salsa spot, with boom box volumes of Latin dance music echoing and strangers becoming one-off dance floor partners.
However, The ROM was devoid of that nuit blanche energy. The rush of people rushing to and from art installations elsewhere interrupted numerous attempts to engage people with NuWe.
Four young college aged ladies finally stepped up for this one photo. With that captured, I headed back south.
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