Saturday, September 29, 2007

Painting the Night Red for Nuit Blanche (sleepless night)



No, the buzz you've been hearing around Toronto is not a plague of locusts. It's all about Nuit Blanche. Everyone who's anyone will be there, don't you know? Nuit Blanche, "a free all-night contemporary art thing," returns for its second year on Sat, Sep 29 starting at 7pm and running until 7am on Sunday morning.

Since Nuit Blanche in Paris 2002, the event has become an international phenomenon with festivities taking place from Latvia to Spain.

Toronto's Nuit Blanche is much expanded this year. One of the more notable additions is the creation of Nightless City on Church St. Appropriately enough, Nightless City promises to bathe the strip in red light, transforming every little corner into a street-wide theatre spectacle. Event organizers are calling it "a grand erotic fantasy," which, depending on what you are into, could also describe any given afternoon on Church St.

The start of Nightless City will be announced by a singular horn and drifting mist. "The intent of this project," says project curator Kristyn Wong-Tam, "is to create an experience for the observer that embodies the restrained yet carefree and celebrated environments that the 'floating world' afforded the tradition-bound shoguns during Edo [now Tokyo] in the 16th and 17th century."

Calling herself "a bit of an East Asian history junkie," Wong-Tam first got involved in Nuit Blanche as co-owner of XEXE Gallery, keeping the gallery doors open all night at last year's event. "I distinctly remember getting goose bumps when I realized that, in the wee hours of that morning, I felt that Toronto had finally achieved some of that worldly status that we have been claiming to have for decades."

Unlike other Church St events such as Pride or the Fetish Fair where performances are on stage, Nightless City performances will happen in storefronts and right on the street. Viewers are encouraged to dress in their own interpretation of what a red light night could mean, blurring the lines between spectators and participants. "There are no steadfast rules for Nightless City," says Wong-Tam, "aside from try, taste and touch everything."

The Nightless City will feature multimedia installations and modern dance to aerial acrobatics, opera, puppetry, improvisation and even psychic readings. Many businesses will stay open all night and a number of bars have extended serving hours (till 4am). A full listing of Nightless City performers can be found on the Church-Wellesley Village BIA website at Church-wellesleyvillage.ca/nuitblanche.










And then comes the next day......

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. Text for this post was gleaned from xtra magazine/Toronto. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Monday, September 24, 2007

More Herschel!
















Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Sunday, September 23, 2007

A Great Afternoon with D!

















Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Always With Dance










Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.