The City of Toronto has announced a selection of artists who will present projects at the 2013 edition of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. On Saturday, October 5, more than 110 contemporary art projects will be exhibited across the city for 12 hours from sunset to sunrise.
City-produced exhibition highlights at this year's event are three curated exhibitions, including a centrepiece installation by world-renowned artist Ai Weiwei of China, curated by Ami Barak.
For Scotiabank Nuit Blanche, Ai will mount a new edition of his "Forever Bicycles" sculpture. This complex and abstract sculpture, consisting of more than 1,000 bicycles, will be installed in Toronto's Nathan Phillips Square.
Ami Barak (independent curator and lecturer at the Paris Sorbonne University) is also curating the areas in and around City Hall and Nathan Phillips Square. Barak's exhibition "Off to a flying start" celebrates the centenary of artist Marcel Duchamp's first ready-made art installation. This exhibition involves the ready-made art now found in galleries and museums and brings these objects back to the streets. Artists whose work will be featured in this exhibition include: Toronto-based Kim Adams; Tadashi Kawamata of Hokkaido, Japan; Michel de Broin of Montreal and Pascale Marthine Tayou based in Ghent, Belgium.
Patrick Macaulay (Head of Visual Arts at Harbourfront Centre) is curating the area along University Avenue from Charles Street West south to Queen Street West. In Macaulay's exhibition "PARADE," the format is archetypal, the route is set, the floats are complete but unlike a conventional parade the audience becomes the procession. This exhibition features work by artists Max Dean of Toronto, David R. Harper of Chicago, and Toronto-based Claire Ironside, Ruth Spitzer and Libby Hague.
Ivan Jurakic (Director/Curator, University of Waterloo Art Gallery, Waterloo) and Crystal Mowry (Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery) are curating projects located in areas along King Street from Yonge Street to John Street. Jurak and Mowry's exhibition "Romancing the Anthropocene" acknowledges the triumph of science and human achievement but it also suggests a cautionary message regarding the destruction of natural habitat, addressing our enduring and yet troubled relationship with the natural world. Work by artists Brendan Fernandes of Toronto; Swoon of New York; Kelly Richardson based in Whitley Bay, UK; and Janet Biggs of New York will be displayed as part of this exhibition.
While the City-produced exhibition projects are centralized downtown, the entire event extends city-wide, with independent projects located in various sites and neighbourhoods throughout the city.
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