Nuit Blanche 2022 fills ‘The Space Between Us’ with art — and draws ‘on ideas around stories of place and thinking about our relationships’

Nuit Blanche is returning it’s live-interactive format for the first time since 2019, with the theme of “The Space Between Us.” Apt then that the dusk-till-dawn event is expanding to more spaces across Toronto.

“I think people are hungry for it, for sure,” said Dr. Julie Nagam, Nuit Blanche artistic director, noting that, while downtown Toronto has always been the main focus of the celebration, this year will see Yonge Street closed from Dundas Street down to Queens Quay, extending to Harbourfront Centre, expanding the event’s footprint across the city has been a priority since adding in Scarborough three years ago.

This year, installations will appear at two additional North York locations: the Aga Khan Museum near Eglinton Avenue East and the Don Valley Parkway; Mel Lastman Square on Yonge Street north of Sheppard Avenue; and in and around the Humber College Lakeshore campus in Etobicoke.

“(The) one large theme … (explores) the connections to the circumpolar Pacific and North America and drawing on ideas around stories of place and thinking about our relationships to those places,” said Nagam, who is also Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Arts, Collaboration and Digital Media and associate professor at the University of Winnipeg.

In Etobicoke, Kurdish-Canadian multimedia artist Roda Medhat will present his work, entitled “Farsh,” featuring a 16-foot-tall pyramid covered in custom-made Kurdish-style carpets. In all, the work encompasses around 30 metres of carpet, hand-stitched by the artist. The sculpture is at 1 Colonel Samuel Smith Park.

“Given the stature of the piece, it’s intended to draw audiences in and evoke a sense of awe and wonder. You don’t have to be Kurdish to recognize the unique patterning and styling of the carpets. You don’t have to be Middle Eastern to enjoy the historical significance and craftwork of carpet weaving,” Medhat said.

“The work is intended to help us draw similarities between ourselves and other cultures and to act as a beacon in the community to bring us together, especially so in a post-COVID world,” he added.

Medhat, an OCAD graduate, said he intends to stick around for the entire 12-hour event, “both interacting with other artists and viewing from a distance how the audience reacts and engages with my work,” Medhat said.

Artist Carola Grahn has created Namahisvarri — a holy place in the Sami culture — featuring an inflatable mountain sculpture, rising to 10 metres at its highest point. It is located in Mel Lastman Square at 5100 Yonge Street. In part, the work is meant to draw attention to “the disappearing reverence for nature at large.”

“I do hope the audience will be touched by the piece, but how is really none of my business in a way. It is between the audience and the artwork, if it is successful. Of course I have my own reasons to make a piece, but I try not to be didactic and tell people what to feel and think,” Grahn said.

Esmond Lee, an artist/architect, returns to Scarborough where he premiered a previous work in 2019. This time, Lee presents Spatial Threads, a 10-panel photographic sculpture featuring 10 translucent banners of varying lengths capturing images from Toronto to Orillia, at the entrance of Scarborough Town Centre.

The work seeks “to explore migration, identity, and borders in the built environment,” Lee said.

“Viewers are encouraged to look in varying scales, in detail of individual photographs, but also as a larger, cohesive sculpture made of many moments. The transparent quality of the material changes with the light and the movement of wind, or lack thereof,” he said.

“I’m excited to attend the event in the evening and to see how the audience experience the work and to interact with them. Unfortunately, I feel really old these days and won’t be able to stay awake all night!” Lee added.

For more information about Nuit Blanche, go to www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/festivals-events/nuitblanche

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