I thought about calling this Bad Art Day, but that would be unfair. I just wasn't moved by a lot of what I saw on Sat., both during the day and at Nuit Blanche, but I don't think much of it was bad art, though I might make an exception for what is on at the Market Gallery, where almost everything on view is a bit of a rip-off of Norval Morrisseau's style.
Sat. did get off to a bit of a rocky start, when I turned up at the Regent Park pool and because nearly all the life guards had called in sick at the last minute, the hot tub wasn't open (sigh) and we had to wait in line until enough other people had left the pool, so that was quite annoying. And even though there were slightly fewer people swimming laps than usual, the medium lanes were just as congested as ever. I managed to get in 19 laps and finally bailed before I got even more frustrated. It wasn't a complete disaster, but it wasn't ideal.
I ran over to the TMU Image Centre, since I hadn't seen this since the main exhibit switched over to one featuring Lee Miller. Most of the images are fashion-oriented and not very interesting to me, though there is a room of her WWII images, some of which are grim indeed. But this exhibit mostly feels like a missed opportunity. They surely could have found a space for Lee Miller taking a bath in Hitler's tub on the day his death was announced, which is generally read as a way of mocking him. (More on that story here.)
But her connection to the art world, particularly Picasso, is turned into nothing more than a footnote, and none of the 1000s of images she took of him and his work (or any of the published Vogue spreads) are included. This seems like a very poor decision on the Image Centre's part. Anyway, more on Miller and Picasso here.
After this, I tried unsuccessfully to buy a mango lassi, then went over to The Powerplant. I wasn't particularly interested in the exhibits. I ran next door and saw some of the exhibits there. That paid off, as the Power Plant wasn't going to participate in Nuit Blache and the building next door was closing quite early (8:30!). This is a far cry from the glory days of Nuit Blanche when many museums participated all night long (or at least that's how I remember it).
I went over to the St. Lawrence Market and ran upstairs to the Market Gallery. As I already indicated, this was very disappointing, and I ran back home, stopping along the way to pick up some groceries.
I had real work to do in the afternoon and early evening, and I didn't actually head out for Nuit Blanche until 9:15 or so! My path this time was the Lee Daniels Lightbox in Regent Park, then the Bentway (though I actually overshot it and ended up in Liberty Village!). I think I actually saw a coy-wolf skulking around but didn't manage to get a picture.
It really did look almost exactly like this, however, and I did wonder if it was a wolf, though a coy-wolf (or Eastern Coyote) is certainly more likely.
The Bentway art was ok but nothing particularly spectacular. There weren't all that many people around either. I was disappointed that there was nothing in Fort York proper (and I guess there wasn't last year either), though there was an inflated light bulb (sponsored by Toronto Hydro) near Fort York.
It was quite challenging to get back to Stackd Market (because drivers on Bathurst were so terrible!) but that was perhaps the most interesting site of the night.
There was some DJ playing as I biked past The Well, but it didn't look like there was actually any art on view, so I kept going. I should have hooked right on Spadina, but the traffic was insane, even worse than Bathurst, so I went on to Blue Jay Way and finally got over to Harbourfront. I guess I probably should have backtracked to the Music Garden, but I just didn't feel like it. There wasn't all that much art where I was, but there was a great big space filled with multicultural food vendors. At least there was quite the buzz of people out at night, having a good time. (I also guess there was some stuff on at 401 Richmond, and I do regret not going back for that, but again it would probably have involving having to deal with Spadina traffic...)
Then I went over to Union and saw a few things, though again one exhibit had closed early. There was something going on at King and Bay, but it was indoor art and the line to get in was far too long. I was astounded that there was nothing going on at Nathan Philips Square, which is usually kind of the heart of Nuit Blanche. There certainly wasn't much on on Yonge St., particularly compared to last year when Yonge was sort of the spine of the whole thing (pre-pandemic Spadina was more of the heart of things). There was one last outdoor exhibit at Yonge-Dundas Square. It wasn't all that interesting. What was more interesting was I was there at the same time as the cyclists doing their own sort of art parade showed up, then they went to King and Bay and I went home.
I think I spent roughly 2.5 hours out and about, which is probably a bit less than most years.
I guess there were a few things of interest that I did miss, including some billboards that were "talking" to each other (not quite sure where that was), but I felt this time around things were too spread out and not very well coordinated. I was really disappointed in how few art hubs and/or spines there were this time around, aside from the waterfront sites, maybe because the city didn't want to pay even more overtime to deal with traffic control (and deal with even more complaints from suburbanites who already hate driving around the city). As far as I can tell, no streets were shut down for Nuit Blanche, and they usually are. It was also a major disappointment that no or nearly no major art institutions or civic centres (with exception of Union Station) were participating. I definitely found this a real missed opportunity. So, as I said, a fairly sad day for art in the city...
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