Renegade Parade and Rave

Having never been to a rave I found it fun to follow the Renegade Parade & Rave that took place during the long night of Nuit Blanche. Organised by the Rothko Institute it had fire, art and chaos with a massive mobile sound system (arrghh, full of pirates) - just as advertised. Everyone gathered at the Royal Ontario Museum waiting for 10:02pm and the start of the parade, mixing in with the already large crowds taking part in Nuit Blanche.

Finally some black flags appeared on the street along with the truck and trailer carrying the DJs (ill.gates, freedom danish, memrx and rolls royce - thanks to memrx for the correct DJs). People quickly gathered behind the vehicle, overflowing the street. Police shouted for people to get to the side of the road but when the party started flowing it basically took up half of any road it was on. We heard that the eventual destination might have been Yonge and Dundas but it initially headed south on Queens Park and into the University of Toronto property and parked at the end of Kings College Road and stayed there for awhile.

Besides the DJs and their rope lights there were also a number of people blowing fire and twirling staffs of fire. With the sound system blasting the rave dancing began. It involves a lot of hypnotic hand waving and flowing body dancing, cool to watch.

They stayed there for about a half and hour the headed out onto College Street, later to University Avenue and we finally left the party when they turned onto Dundas Street West.

I heard the mobile rave got shut down a little while later and we saw the pirates on foot heading toward the parking lot beside City Hall (Chestnut and Armoury) at the Chevrolet CRUZE Remix site. Here is a short video of the parade along the streets and the rave in the University.

Nuit Blanche and Les Rues Des Refuses 2010

The magical all-night art thing called Nuit Blanche gets in gear and I have quite a few exhibitions already picked out. My brother and I will be attending on bicycles to help us get around the city. In addition to the famous and extremely popular (my god - the horror of the lineups where even one of the installations is a lineup) art event we will also be checking out it's edgier cousin Les Rues Des Refuses (LRDR) with it's off program events including the Renegade Parade leaving the ROM at 10:02pm.

We headed to Nathan Phillips Square to start the night with "Later that night at the drive in" which was a projection and sound installation. We took pictures before the official start which was slated for 6:57pm to see the preparations required for this massive project. Various triangular apparatus were showing videos on the ceilings, on vertical screens and on the walls of City Hall while a band played on a stage which had an overhanging mirror. The large mirror was very interesting and provided some great views.

Overall the event has to much darkness in their white night, that and not enough room to experience the installations. The crowds and mobs of people make the night an event of endurance. Too many of the installations were of videos; videos of water drops, videos of making plaster casts of hands, videos of people's faces, you name it and there was a video for it.

The feeling of "is it art" is not something I usually question during the night - I like to find joy in the work and as a photographer I hope to find something visually interesting. I found less of these installations this year and more installations of ordinary events like looking at a bonfire, sitting around a bonfire and playing video games just to name a few. Next year I imagine they will have see through port a potties and lineups of people will gather round and marvel at the excitement of waste production. However, with the amount of Torontonians getting out for the event and the immense amount of exhibitions, you can't really see it all and most people's experience will be different than that experienced by the next person.  The TTC was having a tough time as a few streetcars lost their power pole connections and stopped in their tracks which caused more traffic mayhem along Queen Street.

The people that you find along the night's journey often provide a lot of fun like Tron and fuzzy bike girl, below.

Some people say that the night is an excuse for an all night drug and alcohol party, which for many was an apt description, but for many people this is a chance to be an active part of the experience, which helps to make the city a better place. But you have to make it worthwhile for people to attend and ignore the lineups and the sometimes questionable art. I think I will have to see some great installations planned for 2011 to get back in the saddle again for next years' event.

What was interesting to watch was the young people joining in the night's mass of humanity with their own version of Nuit Blanche - Les Rues Des Refuses, or the street of rejects. They hope to promote art that does not have the funding or awareness of the Nuit Blanche experience but they are really looking for a good, public rave. They gathered at the ROM and at 10:02pm set off on their DJ driven sound show, stopping in the U of T grounds before heading back out onto the streets of Toronto. The funniest part of the night for me was when someone got in my face and got mad at me for being "corporate media". You can see more of the Renegade Parade and rave on my post here.

Here are some of the other stops along my long night of cruising the Nuit Blanche pieces.

After City Hall our next stop was Yonge Street which was closed to vehicles for the night, the road was full of food vendors, masses of people and the occasional outdoor art installation which included "Auto Lamp" sized just right for your living room end table, heck buy a matched set and maybe even the Volkswagen Bug chandelier. Moving north we land at Yonge-Dundas Square where they had a bonfire.

A street market called "Nuit Market" featuring the Weston Flea Market players was tucked out of site in an alleyway and we had to wait for them to set up. Finally they let us into the alley and we wandered through typical flea market sales booths although I didn't see any bootleg videos.

Nuit Blanche pictures continued.

Allegory for a Rock Opera at CityTV

The Task on Toronto St, artist Chris Shepherd not in picture. The concept: move construction blocks from one location to another, by hand, and back again. The genius of this piece was ignored by many who thought it looked like a construction site, hilarity ensued.

The Bus House Collective at Queen St W at the Bay

Day for Night at the Church of Holy Trinity

And bird origami at the park outside the Holy Trinity Church

1,000,000 Canadian Pennies at Hart House, University of Toronto 

On the Good Red Road at Bloor and Bay St

Some big tweets by @xoTO

A Night at the Round Table at Trinity Bellwoods Park

The Burning Buddha at the Distillery District

Part of Sparrow in the Room Collective at the Distillery District (those are casts of hands in a pile)

The Hand of God Rubik's Cubes at the Distillery District (above and below) which I thought was pretty cool

Part of Vexations at Brookfield Place - music and paper folding

Naught Hear on Bay Street, above and below

The Space Between on Queen St W at the Drake Hotel, playing video games, above and below

You can see my photos of last years' 2009 Nuit Blanche event here.

2010 Wish List - Toronto Events

2009 has been a very good year for the Toronto Grand Prix Tourist Blog and I am looking forward to some returning and some new events for 2010. High on my list is to see the return of the Aids Committee of Toronto's (ACT) annual Fashion Cares event - which was sadly postponed in 2009. The fashion and glamour fundraiser is always spectactular (click on my photos on the right for coverage of the event. My videos on YouTube for Fashion Cares and the 2008 spooktacular have been viewed over 25,000 times - and includes this popular summary of the night while a Google search has my blog just below the official website) and I encourage people to support ACT and this event.



For more heavy hitters I hope to see the 2010 Honda Indy Toronto which plans a number of improvements over last year - including the addition of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series and tons more entertainment and hopefully more girls, girls, girls. As well the Luminato and Nuit Blanche Festivals will soon take over all of Toronto as they become more and more popular. And who could forget the Buskerfest as it fills the St. Lawrence Market area. I can also never get enough of the blood soaked, brain eating Zombies as their number continues to grow. I hope to cover more of the Toronto International Film Festival events and look forward to their continued success. Toronto has taken these amazing visual performances to heart and their success has made it difficult to see many of the events due to the size of the crowds, so look for my photographic coverage when you can't make it, or just want to remember the fun - just click my photo links to the right for pictures of previous celebrations.

Some of the smaller promotional activities also provide great opportunities for images - such as the mob of Blu-Ray Santas in Yonge-Dundas Square, so hopefully companies will step up their creative efforts this year.

It is always nice to be invited to unique and once in a lifetime events, such as my recent tour in the Olympic Flame Relay convoy and I am glad I was asked to find out about the movie Fandom which will use an exciting method of interactive filmaking right here in Toronto. So please keep thinking of me if you have something that you may want additional coverage on, just email me at jmhcet@gmail.com.

I will start a list of the events (not in any order) that I want to photograph and write about and will add to it when I find more. Let me know if you can suggest any additional ones that I have left out.

1. Fashion Cares.
2. Honda Indy Toronto. July 16 to 18, 2010.
3. Luminato. June 11 to 20, 2010.
4. Nuit Blanche. Saturday October 2, 2010.
5. Buskerfest. Sometime in August 2010?
6. Zombie Walk. Sometime in October 2010?
7. Toronto International Film Festival. Sometime in September 2010?
8. The Pride Week and parades. June 25 to July 4, 2010.
9. The movie: Fandom. 2010.
10. Joe Fresh has also identified the Toronto Roller Derby League as something that would be good to see.
11. Cirque Du Soleil: Alegria. June 30 to July 4, 2010.
12. Seeing Larysa Harapyn on television again and taking more pictures of the media host - a website with her name is currently under construction.
13. Caribana (a new one for me, thanks Not a Shopaholic). Monday July 14th to Sunday August 2nd, 2010. I heard the King and Queen show is a must see.

Join me in supporting local events and activities that make it such a positive experience to visit and live in the City of Toronto.

Nuit Blanche - do not go quietly into the light

Quite a few people walked the streets of Toronto, some rowdy and inebriated (Queen St West was a party zone), following the art exhibitions that comprise Nuit Blanche. The crowds can be huge and many of the lineups scare off people - including me for several of my pre-show choices. If you are going to hit the show next year and don't like crowds I would suggest going out really late, say starting at 2 or 3 in the morning. Remember it is an all night art thing. I started around 9pm and packed it in at 4:30am.

In the photo above curious Blanchers start into the bright, orange traffic cones making up Rescue Bubble by Tomer Diamant in the Liberty Village area. Joe Fresh and I began our Nuit Blanche bicycle tour at Nathans Phillips Square, below, where A Beautiful Life: 4 Letter Word Machine by D. A. Therrien illuminated the square with sometimes nonsensical test and loudspeakers blared out the pronunciation of each word. It was similar to last years Stereoscope with the use of lights in the windows of City Hall spelling out words.



Like previous versions of Nuit Blanche many of the art installations are cool and interesting but many just raise the thought "this is art?" - Hi "Hey Dave". Dave was a lazy greeter on a recliner meeting some new fans in front of Old City Hall.



We tried to see Ice Queen: Glacial Retreat Dress Tent in the north entrance of Eaton Centre but the crowds in the entrance made it almost impossible to get close so off we went to Rabbit Balloon by Jeff Koons located within the Eaton Centre. The large, metallic balloon floated high above the Sears entrance and was a lot of fun, but then again I liked the Big Red Ball of Luminato.



Close by was the exhibits at Ryerson University and one I like in particular was the infrared projection of crowds high onto the face of a building. It was great when a couple did a Hollywood kiss.



On our way to the Distillery District we dropped by the low wattage 12 Hours of Power where people rode bikes to power generators that barely glowed around the Berczy Park fountain. Oh well, on to the Distillery District which is a fantastic place to visit anytime and on this night it was perfect. Crowds were manageable and the energy was great. First off here was the PhotoSecret by Rob Gee. Photos and secrets were projected on a wall by the spider type sculpture. I remember the balloon secrets from last years Nuit Blanche but again, I love secrets so top marks for me. There was also an Art of Fashion Iconic Power event at the Fermenting Cellar with some great fashion and jewelry.





Riding our bikes we were able to cover the territory faster than joining the rest of the crowds walking along the sidewalks and spilling into the roads. Long lines were found at many of the events including Massey Hall, Church of the Holy Trinity and in Liberty Village. I setup my itinerary based on events that I would find interesting or visually stimulating and where crowds were to large we bypassed the projects. The City of Toronto had closed down several roads for several areas involved in Nuit Blanche. One such area was McCaul Street alongside the Ontario College of Art and Design where large blow up figures lounged along the streets and climbed the walls. There was also a large pit with a couple large stuffed animals and a lot of smoke.





Some even rode bikes as part of commissioned project Bicitycycle by Kyohei Sakaguchi.



Bay Street was also closed in the area of King Street West. Small town fair rides invaded the banking district with Wild Ride by Dempsey and Millan and a pool of vodka, literally title Vodka Pool by Dan Mihaltianu, took over a lobby.




The successful Scotiabank Nuit Blanche was spread out over a lot of downtown Toronto and was split into three sections: section A was Downtown north, section B was Downtown south and section C was southwest. You could do a lot of walking, ride a bike, try to drive a car around or take the TTC which had a special deal for the night. Some of the people on the street were dressed up in flashing cowboy hats, colourful wigs and other cool outfits.



The last stop of the night was at Casa Loma, actually it was in the stables (also another castle) of Casa Loma where we took in La Grand Peep Show by Corpus. My sleepy dreams of tassel twirling, flesh exposing beauties was dashed by some velcro covered teletubbies.




Friendly revelers give thumbs up for the long night of art.