Paris, je t’aime! France’s most famously chic city has brought us many, many wonder-filled delights, from the lovely, light-as-air pastel-hued macarons to the iconic, ever-elegant Chanel. Treats and couture aside, Paris has also brought us one of Canada’s largest festivals: Nuit Blanche. Created in Paris in 2002, Toronto brought the concept to our art-hungry city in 2006 and has reveled in immense success and growth since. Designed to bring contemporary art to the public masses, Nuit Blanche boasted an audience of over 1 million people last year, with 170,000 of them visiting from out of town. Here’s our own version of curating: a list of this year’s must-sees come Saturday, October 5th…
Campfire – David Hoffos
S’mores, camp songs, smiles. Zombies, apocalypse, terror. Mixed media award-winning artist David Hoffos explores the simplicity of a bonfire in all its complexity: Stirring up carefree, happy memories for some, a bonfire in the middle of the Financial District can have the opposite of a calming effect for others, instead evoking feelings of uneasiness and fear.
How to See in the Dark – Margaux Williamson
You’d have to travel to fairly far-flung places on this planet to encounter absolute silence and darkness. How to See in the Dark offers just that. This installation demonstrates the importance of saving the Earth (and its people!) from over-stimulation of everything. Get a guided tour of what our world, or rather city, would feel like sans sound and sight.
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CRINGEWORTHY! The Best of the Worst Videos Online – Andrew Gunadie and Andrew Bravener
If Tosh.0’s tremendous success and viewership is anything to go by, TIFF participants Andrew Gunadie and Andrew Bravener’s installation will certainly follow suit. Each hour, videos posted online that were scavenged and appointed the best of the worst by the artists will be shown and discussed interactively with the audience – why they were created, posted, and why they’re so bad they’re good!
Ferris Wheel – Katharine Harvey
Although this 15-feet-tall spinning structure highly resembles a ferris wheel, it is not meant for passengers but instead to create whimsy and a happy daydream. Carnivals have long since existed all over the globe, and the long-time favourite ride was fondly known as the “Pleasure Wheel.” Watch as Harvey’s LED light and colourful wired-version spins, and let it take you to a place of cheerful memories.
l’air du temps – Faith La Rocque
Smell, and your olfactory experiences, are your senses’ strongest link to memory and can stir up strong feelings and emotions despite its invisibility and abstract essence. La Rocque demonstrates this wonder by creating an installment that takes its audience to a journey through Paris in the year 1919 strictly through scent, allowing participants to use their imagination and own perceptions to visualize and perhaps reminisce by scent recognition of their own as well.
