Toronto City Hall, Nuit Blanche art and music festival.

[wddoebler]

Photo taken during our recent trip to Toronto, Ontario. Unknown to us before our arrival, there was a dusk to dawn art and music festival called Nuit Blanche that took place on October 2-3, 2010. ; The plaza in front of City Hall was the location of a stage where music was played until dawn on October 2-3, 2010 for the Nuit Blanche art and music festival.

 

[wddoebler]

Mickey is everywhere. ; I found this one in the Eaton Centre in downtown Toronto.

 

[jbwolffiv]

Nice shots, I really like the first one of the city! ; Thanks for sharing!

 

[Scottwdw]

Mickey is an international star and Canadians love the Mic.

Cool building and city lights are the best. ; You were up there to get such an angle.

 

[wddoebler]

Yes, our hotel room was on the 31st floor. ; It was a beautiful view but the loud music until dawn on October 2-3 did keep us awake.

 

[wddoebler]

There were some unusual pieces of art at the Nuit Blanche festival. ; This one is called "End Game" with a secondary title of coulrophobia (fear of clowns) and consisted of three partially deflated balloons caught between two buildings above a narrow alley. ; The artist is Max Streicher from Toronto, Canada. ; The balloons are made of vinyl from recycled billboards. Two of my photos are composites of two or three shots that I put together with photomerge in photoshop.

 

[wddoebler]

Vertical panorama taken before the festival started

 

[wddoebler]

Closeup of one of the balloons

 

[jbwolffiv]

Interesting, and a little creepy!

 

[wddoebler]

I agree. ; I found that a lot of modern art is a little creepy.

 

[wddoebler]

One of the pieces that I really liked but did not find "creepy" was called "Smile" by artist Agnes Winter of Paris, France. ; She had students take several hundred photos of people of Toronto smiling. ; She then put together a collage of 250 photographs in an ever changing and moving mosaic projected on the side of the Holt Renfrew building on Bloor Street. ; This was accompanied by the musical theme "Smile", written by Charlie Chaplin for "Modern Times".

 

[wddoebler]

Smile

 

[wddoebler]

Smile

 

[jbwolffiv]

I like that one too, and a lot less creepy!

 

[wddoebler]

One of my favorites from Nuit Blanche was called "Auto Lamp" by artist Kim Adams of Toronto, Ontario. ; Kim took a 1996 Dodge Ram van and turned it into a lighthouse on land placing it on a rotating display. ; The artist admits that the vehicle's consistency is compromised. It's barely there, it's more holed than whole. ; The artist said that one advantage to his piece is year round air conditioning. ; Not that one is likely to need that in Canada.

 

[wddoebler]

One doesn't get the full effect until after dark.

 

[wddoebler]

"Auto Lamp" Yonge Street south of Queen Street Toronto, Ontario.

 

[wddoebler]

They danced all night long!

 

[Scottwdw]

Those clown balloons are great and creepy. ; Nice work on the panorama! ; I think I saw that van back in the 70's and it was lit up then, too. ;

 

[wddoebler]

Scott,
The van you saw back in the 70's must have been an earlier version. ; This one is made from a 1996 Dodge Ram van. ; Nuit Blanche was a wild all night party. ; I am attaching a couple of photos of the crowd taken well after midnight. ; The party went on until dawn.