October is just a few weeks away, and that means that Toronto’s free, all-night contemporary art festival is making its annual return! The 19th edition of Nuit Blanche takes place from Saturday, Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. to Sunday, Oct. 5 at 7 a.m. Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s festival before you pull an all-nighter.
What is Nuit Blanche
This is a free, city-wide, all-night celebration of contemporary art. You’ll find art installations by local, national, and international artists at various locations across the city.
This year’s theme is Translating the City, meaning audiences can experience urban life through multilingual and multisensory art, including spoken, written, visual, gestural, sonic and emotional expressions.
Check out these three exhibitions produced by the City of Toronto
- In North York, Collective Composition, curated by Laura Nanni, encourages audiences to actively participate in immersive works that reveal the city as a “living fabric” woven through shared care, creativity and responsibility.
- In Etobicoke, From here, there, everywhere, curated by Renata Azevedo Moreira, reflects on the many meanings of home in a big city shaped by migration, hope, connection and belonging.
- In the downtown core, from Chinatown to Dundas St W, check out Poetic Justice. This installation, curated by Charlene K. Lau, explores Toronto’s layered histories (Indigenous homelands, global arrivals, land, treaties, justice and reform), all brought together into civic spaces and in unexpected ways.
Large-scale projects to explore
Click here for the full list of projects and their locations.
- The Eye of Wisdom by Ellen Pau: This large-scale projection incorporates Hong Kong Sign Language, created as a sort of love letter to Toronto! This project is sponsored by Arts in Hong Kong. 100 Queen St W.
- Undersight by Cassils: A list of banned words is sent into the night sky using Morse code, reclaiming censored language as a public and political statement. Colonel Samuel Smith Park Skating Trail, 2 Colonel Samuel Smith Park.
- Lamination 1.0 by Studio Rat: A suspended quilt-like canopy of reclaimed plastic transforms waste into a vibrant public artwork (co-created with community members in North York). North York Centre, 5150 Yonge.
- A Place I Call Home by Faisal Anwar: An interactive installation that explores what “home” means in an era of migration, instability and change. Canoe Landing Community Centre, 45 Fort York.
Interactive and multilingual immersion experiences
This year’s programming embraces the idea that translation isn’t simply about translating one language to another but about the connection and understanding it creates. So, audiences will be invited to participate in everything from interactive dance floors and communal weavings to multilingual poetry and projections.
Nuit Talks, tours and workshops
Even before the big night, audiences can deepen their engagement through a free series of talks, tours and workshops (from Sat, Sept 13 to Tues, Oct 7). Check out Translating the City: A Midday Gathering on Sun, Sept 21, at The Bentway Studio, featuring a keynote speech by Elder Duke Redbird, as well as curators and artists in a multisensory dialogue about art, language and urban life. Click here for the full list of talks and workshops.
How to get around
Each installation takes place at a different public space, so walking or taking the TTC is your best way to travel around (downtown traffic will be heavily impacted by road closures and limited parking). The TTC typically operates subway service all night long on Lines 1 and 2 for Nuit Blanche, so keep an eye out for updates (they should be announced in early October)!
