Re: [-empyre-] NIGHTSENSE
Hi Jim and Jennifer, Looking forward to hearing more on your experience curating NIGHTSENSE. I was lucky enough to encounter this project via your presentation at Performance Studies International conference a few years back and I remember images of large scale art installations covering the public city spaces of Toronto. Some projects take place outside while others take place inside of landmark buildings around Toronto, is this right? I am interested in the question you closed with about mass subjectivity and I wonder if we want to extend that question to also consider an intersubjective relationship that might arise out of such participatory events. I remember from your images of the events a good deal of participation between artists and viewers, and between viewers themselves. At this point, are there certain people who are excluded from the city when such large art events bring thousands of people to the downtown area? If so, I wonder what kind of privilege the subjectivities that are created carry to the artworks. In other words, I wonder whose "public" or maybe counter-public we expect when thinking in terms of large scale and public curatorial and installation projects. In thinking about this can we use these mass art events to curate counter-movements - literally the movement of people between city buildings for purposes other than their ordinary use - in a city and include those who are often left out of the ordinary city space in one way or another? Ashley On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 6:12 PM, Renate Ferro wrote: > Dear Jim and Jennifer, > Thanks so much for giving our readers and subscribers the url to > NIGHTSENSE on the displaycult website > http://www.displaycult.com/exhibitions/NIGHTSENSE.html > > Your post brings up so many issues that I want to ask you about but I > think I'll just begin with two basic ones. Many of our international > subscribers may not know the Toronto Nuitblanche is. Can you give us > a bit more information? ( How did you come to curate the event? Who > funds these spectacular projects? Is there an all call for artist > participants or do you mine them from your own networks? Who in the > world orchestrates the masses of people? Given the duration I figure > that is more of a arts festival? Do you think that NIghtsense is > Toronto specific? Could it migrate to another location or would that > be impossible? ) Well too many questions but if each of you could > take a few of these and tell empyre more about the event then perhaps > we can wrap our heads around the statement I pulled off the > DisplayCult website. > > "DisplayCult is a curatorial collaborative that aims to rethink > exhibition prototypes by amplifying sensory aesthetics, interrogating > the diverse histories of display, and engaging with the performative > aspects of presentation." > > Looking forward to hearing more about Nightsense and how do you > characterize the word "curating" in your own practices. Thanks so > much. Renate > > > On Mon, Apr 2, 2012 at 2:22 PM, Jim Drobnick > wrote: > > Dear Renate and Tim, > > > > Thanks for inviting us to participate in this month’s series of > > conversations. > > > > To start one thread, we thought we would begin with a relatively recent > > project of ours, NIGHTSENSE, that formed part of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche > in > > 2009. We are revisiting this project at this time because we are editing > a > > special issue of Public magazine on the topic of “Art and Civic > Spectacle.” > > > > NIGHTSENSE featured visual and extra-visual artworks within the shadowy > > world of Toronto’s financial district. Addressing the spectre of market > > destabilization, the invisible transmission of broadcast signals, as > well as > > hauntings from a locale where early Toronto history has been all but > erased, > > these projects to engaged the audience in both critical and ludic > > participation. NIGHTSENSE invited a reconsideration of the normal sensory > > economy by intensifying the subtle but powerful links between bodies, > > aesthetic perception and shifts in capital. (Images can be found > > at http://www.displaycult.com/exhibitions/NIGHTSENSE.html) > > > > The overall context in which NIGHTSENSE appeared was Nuit Blanche, which > we > > hope list members have experienced or read about. These events last all > > night long in a number of cities worldwide, and typically involve > thousands > > of visitors (1,000,000 or so in Toronto for each of the past couple of > > years). Artists produce large-scale performances and interventions that > > engage, critique and reconceptualize the urban context. > > > > Our issue of Public will address the dynamics and significance of > these > > popular mass events. How do the monumental artworks of city-wide > exhibitions > > relate to the diverse histories of spectacle? What are the opportunities > and > > challenges of such events? When audience levels reach into the hundreds > of > > thousands, what issues are raised
[-empyre-] NightSense
Hi Renate, To begin responding to your questions, Nuit Blanche, which began as an all-night art event in Paris, happens annually in cities around the world. In Toronto, it is sustained by a board of directors from the art community, Toronto City Hall Special Events, the Toronto Arts Council, public and private galleries, and numerous other organizations both public and corporate (Scotiabank is a named sponsor). Jim and I were approached by Nuit Blanche organizers to propose a curated project, and happily our proposal for NightSense was accepted. This involved commissioning 10 projects from artists of our choice, and selecting 5 "open call" projects from a roster of submitted proposals. We were assigned "Zone B" -- Toronto's Financial District. This immediately created an implicit link between our initial proposal focussed on the "senses at night" and "finance capital." Because we work in a context-sensitive manner, we began by researching the history of the neighbourhood, and doing site visits to identify salient venues, first with our production team and then pairing places with prospective artists. Of course, in the fall of 2009 the corporate sector was reeling from the financial crisis, which gave special resonance to the way we configured the projects. In the dark, the haptic senses of touch, vertiginous vestibular destabilization, and proprioception come into play, along with sound, smell and -- at a critical moment when the New York Times reported that financiers were seeking help from astrologers and psychics -- the 6th sense or paranormal sensorium. Over the two years prior to the "nuit", we worked with a seasoned team at Toronto City Hall Special Events overseen by Umbereen Unayet and Dan Surman, who did an amazing job of securing the sites we were interested in which included closing Bay Street ( Canada's equivalent to Wall Street) where Dempsey & Millan installed Avalanche, a carnival ride staffed by real coked-up carneys dressed in business suits, Ryan Stec's inaugural project as the first artist to incorporate the CN Tower (iconic of Toronto), Heather Nicol's memoryscape at Union Station (a major train hub of surprised commuters that night), IAINBAXTER&'s game of Monopoly with real money at the Toronto Stock Exchange (this venue was very tough to get and was ultimately secured with a letter penned by the Mayor of Toronto, David Miller to the President of the stock exchange), as well as bank atriums, plazas, arcades, alleys, malls and walls. Rather than analyze our own projects, we wanted to provide video links for a selection of projects. In our curatorial practice, we are particularly interested in how the affects of exhibition extend cultural theory in ways distinct from textual analysis. Perhaps these may incite some discussion. Ryan Stec Bright Lights Big City (CN Tower LED system synched with 12 hour CIUT FM simultaneous audio broadcast/Jokers of the Scene) http://vimeo.com/6964024 Dan Mihaltianu Vodka Pool (pool of vodka in lobby of the Canadian Bank of Imperial Commerce) http://www.ccca.ca/nuitblanche/nuitblanche2009/artists/b7m.html Rebecca Belmore Gone Indian (artist's pow wow to re-territorialize Royal Bank plaza) http://www.ccca.ca/nuitblanche/nuitblanche2009/artists/b6m.html Center for Tactical Magic Witches Cradles (form of torture recuperated by witches to incite prophetic visions) http://www.ccca.ca/nuitblanche/nuitblanche2009/artists/b5m.html http://www.tacticalmagic.org/CTM/project%20pages/Witches_Cradles.htm Shawna Dempsey & Lorri Millan Wild Ride (Avalanche carnival ride placed on Bay Street between the Bank of Montreal and Scotia Bank) http://www.ccca.ca/nuitblanche/nuitblanche2009/artists/b8m.html What initially intrigued us about this event in Toronto was the opportunity to curate an exhibition for an over-night event that mobilizes and engages in one night an audience of a million people. We were keen to explore what happens when art spectatorship moves outside the gallery on this scale. It became clear that a mass audience can engage with conceptually rigorous art works. And the role of mass media, such as television, became significant as they rushed to cover what was happening. Rather than the reductive and often trivializing "containment" of artworks customarily found in art coverage, the reportage assumed the perspective of durational participant broadcasting from "within" immersive art events. So while we hope for some responses to the work, what we cannot show unfortunately, is our own curatorial itinerary through the zone. We circulated through the project from sunset until sunrise, watching the mood shift with different waves of engagement. All the best, Jennifer and Jim Jennifer Fisher, PhD Associate Professor, Contemporary Art and Curatorial Studies Department of Visual Arts CFA 252 YORK UNIVERSITY 4700 Keele Street Toronto, ON M3J 1P3 jef...@yorku.ca Documentation on CCCA archive http:
