kathleen_dailey (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kathleen_dailey) wrote2023-08-24 02:41 pm
kathleen_dailey) wrote2023-08-24 02:41 pm
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Nuit Blanche 2023
Almost everyone seems to agree that the opening of the CNE marks the beginning of the end of summer fun, and that it's a straight warp-speed shot downhill to Halloween, Thanksgiving, New Year's, and all the bleakness that follows. But for me, it's Nuit Blanche, the annual citywide festival of contemporary art, that truly signals the changing of the seasons.
I haven't been able to view any of the projects in person for the last few years, but I vividly remember an early (2006 or 2007) Nuit Blanche event that I attended. My pal Dr. C. and I met up at about 11 p.m. and went to hear Maggie Helwig read her poetry in a garden somewhere in the Annex. It was cold AF that night, and we were underdressed and physically miserable, but the poet was mesmerizing.
(Aside: Maggie Helwig is not only a writer of poetry and fiction; she's now also the rector of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields, a venerable Anglican church in the Kensington Market area. She has an interesting history--as does St. Stephen the Protomartyr, for that matter.)
It's unlikely that I'll be viewing any installations or performances this year, but it's good to know that Torontonians will be enjoying and actively participating in the festival all night long. Contemporary artists deserve way more love than they get in this part of the world, IMO.
I haven't been able to view any of the projects in person for the last few years, but I vividly remember an early (2006 or 2007) Nuit Blanche event that I attended. My pal Dr. C. and I met up at about 11 p.m. and went to hear Maggie Helwig read her poetry in a garden somewhere in the Annex. It was cold AF that night, and we were underdressed and physically miserable, but the poet was mesmerizing.
(Aside: Maggie Helwig is not only a writer of poetry and fiction; she's now also the rector of St. Stephen-in-the-Fields, a venerable Anglican church in the Kensington Market area. She has an interesting history--as does St. Stephen the Protomartyr, for that matter.)
It's unlikely that I'll be viewing any installations or performances this year, but it's good to know that Torontonians will be enjoying and actively participating in the festival all night long. Contemporary artists deserve way more love than they get in this part of the world, IMO.