Toronto City Hall, Nuit Blanche art and music festival.

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.

 

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

 

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

 

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.

 

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.

 

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.

 

Vertical panorama taken before the festival started

 

Closeup of one of the balloons

 

Interesting, and a little creepy!

 

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

 

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".

 

Smile

 

Smile

 

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

 

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.

 

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

 

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

 

They danced all night long!

 

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. ;

 

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.