Archive for the 'Visual art' Category

That Night in Toronto has a Bad Day

Published
by
Katherine
on October 26, 2008
in TNIT, Visual art, art, city, film, music, new media, photography and theatre
. 1 Comment

Click above for the video……

Hey y’all,

So Blair and I have been super busy and we have plans coming up, so you will see an episode soon enough!  In the meantime, check out the video above.  It is the first one that I did on my own, and with the slowness of my computer, might be the last for a while.  I went to the launch of the second issue of Bad Day Magazine at Studio Gallery .  You can check out the art until mid-November there, so please check out the gallery’s website for hours and such things.

I have been working nuts hours these days, but I still got to see Scratch at Factory Theatre.  If you are a woman/girl/lady person, you must see this play.  It will bring you back to when you were a pre-teen/teen and no one ‘got’ you, and you were really going through lots of ’stuff’.  If you are a man/boy/gentleman person, you should see it too.

For next week, there is tons going on…. almost every night is booked.  I’ll try to take pics and stuff and tell you about it next week.

Monday - Fu-Gen Theatre’s Gala

Tuesday - Rest (maybe make a bean salad for lunches)

Wednesday - The night I have been waiting for!!!!   Trouble the Water as part of the first Doc Soup of the season (as you will find out soon viewers, I am the hugest fan of Hot Docs Fest and Doc Soup series) then….  SHARON JONES and the DAP KINGS at Kool Haus!  Blair will be there too, but I am sure Sharon won’t let us take pics.  If you don’t know Sharon Jones, click on her name anywhere on this blog and the internets will take you to her.  She is a massive talent - soul to the limit!  Best band ever too!

Thursday - I have rehearsal, but there’s lots going on in the city

Friday - I am seeing The Black Rider at Tarragon but for the rest of you it is Halloween.  (you will also learn that Halloween is not my scene and I do everything I can to avoid it.  I hate halloween.)

See you dudes next week -

k

Episode 13 - October 4-5, 2008

Published
by
Blair
on October 7, 2008
in Visual art, city, dance, film, music, new media, photography and theatre
. 1 Comment

12 hours. What a night! We started our journey at 6:30pm at City Hall and our heads didn’t hit the pillow until 6am the next morning …

There is so much to cover from this years Nuit Blanche in Toronto. So much in fact that it’s best if you watch the video! :) But here are some of the highlights that we saw on our travels:

Zone A:

  • Stereoscope, City Hall
    An amazing installation turning the windows of City Hall into a giant ping pong game and lighting canvas
  • Our interview with Mayor David Miller
  • Conversation #2, 900 Wellesley Street
    12,000 books laid together to create a beautiful sculpture. The different coloured spines even created moasic images wrapped around the sculpture.

Zone B:

  • r u part of the art?
    An interesting mobile installation - subscribe to a texting service and receive updates throughout the night with various things to do like sing the song from The Muppets (Menamena do do dee do do …). We didn’t see many other people doing it, but it was fun to randomly do stuff during the night.
  • Le Labo, Distillery
    A very calming video/sound installation (for the first while we were there) at Le Labo or Le Laboratoire d’art - a “francophone media and integrated arts lab offering opportunities in production, training & showings.”
  • Higgs Ocean, Distillery
    While they weren’t part of the ‘official’ Nuit Blanche schedule, this installation in one of the alleyways of the Distillery, was a highlight for us as it featured many elements from our youth - Lite Brite, a Big Bird lamp, and old films on video projectors! Unfortunately we couldn’t find any info on the group online - so if you guys see this posting, let us know where to find you!

Zone C:

  • Overflow, Liberty Village
    A smaller scale installation by Michel de Broin of a waterfall coming out the window of a 3 storey building and crashing into discarded furniture on the ground.
  • Imagine Peace, Liberty St. & Jefferson Ave.
    Yoko Ono continues to spread the message of peace with this installation. The public is given tags to write a wish on and the hang on the trees lining the street creating weeping willows of wishes, as it were.
  • I Promise It Will Always Be This Way, Lamport Stadium
    At 5am, watching mascots run wild to mid-90’s techno music was a lot of fun - and a great way to end the night.

We took tons of photos that night and we’ll be posting them in our Facebook Group as well as setting up a flickr home soon for you to view.

What were your highlights? What did you think of the 2008 Nuit Blanche?

Be sure to check out our friends over at Dear Toronto and their coverage of Nuit Blanche!

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Special Pre Toronto Nuit Blanche Edition

Published
by
Blair
on September 30, 2008
in TNIT Info, Visual art, city, dance, film, literature, music, photography and theatre
. 2 Comments

4 days left until at 6:52pm on Saturday October 4th, Toronto awakens for an all night contemporary art thing called Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. If you haven’t been yet … where have you been!? For the past two years, the popularity of this phenomenal free chaotic art frenzy has exploded - hundreds of thousands of Torontonians take to the street and experience art in Toronto like never before.

For those of you who have never been, Katherine and I have put together a little guide - 7 tips on how to survive Nuit Blanche and make the most of your night.

We are prepping for an all night vlogging thing and we want you to be a part of it. We’ll be heading from Zone B to A to C on our bikes. If you want to join us along the way and be a part of our evening, email us at info@nightintoronto.com and we’ll let you know where we are. You can also send us some tips if you know of a great installation we should feature on TNIT!

After we catch up on our sleep, we’ll be posting a vlog from each zone so be sure to sign up to our RSS feed to see the results! Oh, and we’ll also be teaming up with our friends at Dear Toronto to do some cross vlogging - should be a lot of fun.

Enjoy!

- Blair

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Episode 11 - September 13, 2008

Published
by
Blair
on September 14, 2008
in Visual art, food, music and photography
. 0 Comments

We’re back!

Yes, it was a little touch and go there for a while after our last vlog, but we’re back on the air - this time in HD! Woot! Thanks to our brand new Canon HG10, you’ll be able to enjoy TNIT through the magic of HD - it’s almost as if you are actually there with us! (Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration …)

On Saturday, Katherine and I decided to check out the Queen West Arts Crawl, a favourite weekend event amongst many Torontonians. What’s different about this vlog is that we filmed it BEFORE 5pm! That’s right - this is not about a night in Toronto as much as it is about a day in Hogtown. As that was the case, it only made sense that we grab a bit of brunch because c’mon - it’s Saturday morning!

We made our way over to Squrily’s which neither of us had been to before (for brunch). It’s an incredibly eclectic restaurant in its décor. There’s a lovely patio in the back where we sat (well, we sat on the edge of it because there was a great big red couch that Katherine wanted to rest up). The brunch was delicious and pretty darn cheap, if you ask me. Only $20 for the two of us (incl. tax and tip!).

Then it was off to Trinity Bellwoods Park to take part in the artist fair and to take a peak at some of the amazing artists who live in this fair city.

You’ll have to watch the episode to see how it all went down. :)

We’d like to say thanks to Megan Hamilton for providing her song “Detroit” as the music for this episode! If you’ve got some music that you think would work well for for TNIT, drop us a line!

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What we talked about in this episode:

Photo of Trinity Bellwoods Park by Katherine Grainger.

Episode 10 - August 27, 2008

Published
by
Blair
on August 29, 2008
in Visual art, food and theatre
. 0 Comments

It started out as an excellent night.

Katherine and I met at City Hall to check out what installation was in the Rotunda. We found a great piece from Vietnam - 300 (out of an original 1,303) painted lanterns by school children about how they viewed the country. Some of the paintings were amazing for such young children! The piece was only on for a few days, and we weren’t allowed to film it, but Katherine took some great photos!

Then it was out to Nathan Phillips Square to take a look at the art on the square. Some people might not know that we have a Henry Moore sculpture right there! And how many of us have taken the time to actually read about the Peace Garden (how many of you knew there WAS a Peace Garden)? From the City’s website:

The Peace Garden in Nathan Phillips Square consists of a simple cube with a pitched roof, an eternal flame, a pool and stone platform walls. The roof has a damaged appearance, which signifies conflict and evokes the theme of civilization’s frailty.

The eternal flame appears to support the structure, symbolizing the hope and regeneration of mankind.

Former Mayor Nathan Phillips presented the sundial located in the Peace Garden to the citizens of Toronto. It is inscribed with the words, “In appreciation of the opportunity to serve.”

The sundial, which was installed on Nathan Phillips Square in 1969, was designed by G.R. Johnson (in consultation with City Property Commissioner H.H. Rogers and architect John C. Parkin) and fabricated by F. Caruk, Master Welding Limited.

On March 5, 1984, during the City’s Sesquicentennial (150th anniversary) celebrations, then Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau turned the first sod for the Peace Garden’s construction.

In September of the same year, His Holiness Pope John Paul II lit the eternal flame with an ember from the Memorial for Peace in Hiroshima, Japan. The Holy Father poured a vial of water from the rivers that flow through Nagasaki into the pool.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II formally dedicated the Peace Garden in October, 1984.

Then it was off to the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre to see Avenue Q - but on our way over, we decided to investigate the flying Canadian Geese at the south entrance to the Eaton Centre. The piece, called Flight Stop, is by internationally renowned Toronto artist Michael Snow. This is another wonderful piece of art which many probably take for granted. But it’s a rather significant installation as there was some interesting controversy surrounding it.

After grabbing a quick bite to eat at Sushi Q in the Eaton Centre food court (to tie us over), we made our way over to the Elgin to pick up our tickets to Avenue Q. Before the show, we checked out another installation on the Palladian level of the Elgin by Theatre Museum Canada (yes! We have a theatre museum - it just doesn’t have a physical home … yet). They have some lovely costume and set designs on display at the moment. Make sure you check out what’s on display next time you’re there.

Here’s a quick peak at a song from Avenue Q:

It’s a hilarious show! We laughed and cried (from the pure joy of some of the songs). But then drama struck … you’ll have to watch the video to find out what kind of drama exactly … ;)

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What we talked about in this episode:

Photo taken of the Toronto skyline by Blair Francey.

Formats available:MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Flash Video (.flv)

Episode 6 - July 15, 2008

Published
by
Blair
on July 17, 2008
in Visual art, music and theatre
. 2 Comments

On a beautiful Tuesday night, Katherine and Blair find themselves strolling through the cobble stone streets of Toronto’s historic Distillery District. Full of galleries, restaurants, and boutique shops, micro-breweries - the Distillery has a plethora to offer the culture vulture. It’s also a great hub of music.

A brief history of The Distillery (from their website):

Founded in 1832 by Brothers-in-law William Gooderham and James Worts, the Gooderham and Worts Distillery eventually became the largest distillery in the British empire. Set on 13 acres in downtown Toronto, the forty plus buildings constitute the largest and best preserved collection of Victorian Industrial Architecture in North America. The Distillery District is a national historic site.

The Distillery is a hub of creativity housing some of Toronto’s outstanding performing arts companies. One of the crown jewels of the entire site is the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, a multi-venue theatre, home of Soulpepper Theatre Company and George Brown College’s Theatre Program. Katherine and Blair took in a performance of The Way of the World at Soulpepper before heading over to the Mill Street Brew Pub for a bite to eat and a sip of beer.

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What we talked about in this episode:

Photo taken of the Gooderham & Worts Building in the Distillery by Katherine Grainger.

Formats available:MPEG-4 Video (.m4v), Flash Video (.flv)