Nuit Blanche at Toronto’s Waterfront – 2023 Edition
Nuit Blanche is returning to Toronto on September 23! From 7 PM to 7 AM, locals and visitors can explore the city completely transformed by artists.
Nuit Blanche Toronto is one of North America’s award-winning contemporary art events and has been around since 2006.
Nuit Blanche is completely free and available to the entire public. Each year, Nuit Blanche has a theme, guiding the artists under an umbrella.
This year’s theme is ‘Breaking Grounds’, inspiring artists to focus their projects on the natural world and the impacts of the modern-day world.
Toronto’s waterfront will feature 6 different art installations that can be visited and explored:
Staging Grounds and Fountain Monumental
- Location: Dan Leckie Way and Lake Shore Blvd
- Art Medium: Installation
- Artist(s): Agency-Agency, SHEEEP, Logan MacDonald
The Project:
Explore The Bentway’s Staging Grounds, a new temporary public space that leverages stormwater to support plant life and other greenery.
The space also features three large-scale screens and other multimedia artwork encouraging visitors to further explore the site and learn about the ecology that lives underneath the Gardiner.
Beyond Concrete
- Location: Fort York
- Art Medium: Installation
- Artist(s): Agency-Agency, SHEEEP, Logan MacDonald
The Project:
Visitors are encouraged to explore the life that lives under the Gardiner, despite the concrete and hostile environment.
Visitors can also catch the ‘Aliens of Manila’, a vibrant performance featuring sculptural costumes made from plastic waste. Performances are at 10 PM, 11 PM, 12 AM, and 1 AM.
A New Nature
- Location: 539 Queens Quay W (East side of silos)
- Art Medium: Video Projection on East side of silos
- Artist(s): Mark Dorf
The Project:
Canada’s Malting Silos has been an iconic landmark at Toronto’s harbourfront for over a hundred years.
On September 23, the malting silos will be transformed with a video projection depicting the future state of nature and the world.
The artist Mark Dorf, neither positive nor negative explores how nature will change and grow with the impact of technology and urbanism.
Translunar Formations
- Location: 7 Queens Quay E
- Art Medium: Augmented Reality
- Artist(s): PIX FILM Collective and The Artificial Museum
The Project:
Visitors can simply step through a portal and land on the moon through an augmented reality exhibit.
While visitors are exploring the moon, audiences will begin to contemplate the moral and legal concerns of human presence in space, and humanity’s desire to exploit the moon for profit.
At the same time, visitors will be inspired to reflect upon our relationship with Earth and the climate emergency deadline.
Pets
- Location: 7 Queens Quay E
- Art Medium: Installation
- Artist(s): Christy Kunitzky
The Project:
During the winter, trees must be wrapped for winter, but only trees that have been transplanted into residential areas.
Christy Kunitzky explores ownership, responsibility, care, and cultivation through tree-like objects.
The project considers social responsibility and who is allowed to receive social services depending on the standards one must meet.
Avian
- Location: 7 Queens Quay E
- Art Medium: Video Installation
- Artist(s): April Hickox
The Project:
‘Avian’ examines our relationship with nature and how connection can be established though observation and moments of stillness. April Hickox uses bird watching to illustrate these encounters and connections.
These captured moments and shared connections are also shared with the viewer, renewing a sense of appreciation for our natural world.
Future Blocks
- Location: 7 Queens Quay E
- Art Medium: Interactive Installation
- Artist(s): HAUNTS Collective
The Project:
Visitors can write notes to their future selves by writing a note and adding them to quilt pockets, creating a blanket of notes to the future.
The project is made from plastic, serving a reminder of the longevity of plastic, its life span lasts far beyond its use span.
While creating notes to our future selves, the project has participants reflect on our usage with waste and the impact it can have on our future
