Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2014

Nuit Blanche... What is it? Nuit Blanche is an all-night arts festival that happens every year! For 12 hours, the entire downtown core becomes a giant open art museum. What is art?

Nuit Blanche answers this question for you -- everything and anything can be art. You see a pile of rocks with Cheetos thrown all over it -- that is art. In my view, that image represents how the white supremecist heteropatriarchal captalist system is destroying our natural resources to make profit through unjust means in order to maintain social stratification.

Okay, maybe I'm looking to deep into that. Maybe that wasn't an art installation, maybe someone just accidentally spilled their bag of Cheetos onto the ground. Still, I love that Nuite Blanche can make me think like that. It's cheesy (GET IT?), but the concept of art is not objective. Art is a completely subjective experience, and that's what makes Nuit Blanche a wonderful event.

In my three years at U of T, this is the first year that I actually went out of my way to experience Nuit Blanche. I've "been" to Nuit Blanche twice before this, but I didn't visit any art installations barring the ones at Dundas Square or on campus. The event was all too tiring for me, and at that point it became more of a normal social gathering rather than what it should have been -- the privilege of having the opportunity to experience the work of the great artists in our city.

Admittedly, I didn't travel as much as I wanted, but I did see a lot more than I did in my previous years. I made the best of the experience by going to Nuit Blanche with a small group of friends instead of going with a large group of people. Everything felt more special, and I definitely got to discuss art a lot more than in previous years. Considering that I'm a third-year student, and 12am is now my bedtime, I think I deserve some congratulations. Also, the artists -- the artists deserve a lot more congratulations!

Unfortunately, because I stayed out until 6am, I was too tired to remember to get the names and artists of many of the works I saw. I will try to find out who made what, because the majority of the art pieces were outstanding, and truly made me proud to be a citizen of Toronto, where creativity never runs dry.

If you didn't get to attend Nuit Blanche, no need to worry! Some of the projects have been extended, and are still up. Make sure to check them out!