Nuit Blanche 2013
Parisian curator Ami Barak’ exhibition around
Toronto City Hall/Nathan Phillips Square
celebrates artist Marcel Duchamp’s first
readymade art installation, bringing objects found
in galleries and mseums back to the street
Off to a flying start
Curatorial statement
In 2013, we celebrate the centenary of Bicycle Wheel, Marcel Duchamp’s first
readymade. He combined a bicycle wheel and a stool – and it has become central
to the very notion of Art and the artistic attitude towards objects. This century,
objects found in the streets, chosen by artists, are displayed in museums. In the
context of Scotiabank Nuit Blanche when the entire city becomes an open-air
museum for one night, we will take these objects back to the streets and reunite
the public with the ubiquitous nature of the artwork.
—Ami Barak
In partnership with the Consulate General of France in Toronto with support from the Institut
français as part of the Paris-Toronto series
Nuit Blanche 2013
Off to a flying start
Curatorial statement
In 2013, we celebrate the centenary of Bicycle Wheel, Marcel Duchamp’s
first readymade.
Bicycle Wheel is Duchamp’s first readymade, a class of objects he invented
to challenge assumptions about what constitutes a work of art. Duchamp
combined two mass-produced parts—a bicycle wheel and fork and a kitchen
stool—to create a type of nonfunctional machine. By simply selecting
prefabricated items and calling them art, he subverted established notions of
the artist’s craft and the viewer’s aesthetic experience. The 1913 Bicycle
Wheel was lost, but nearly four decades later Duchamp assembled a
replacement from newly found prefabricated parts and affirmed that the later
version is as valid as the original.
Although Duchamp had collected manufactured objects in his studio in Paris,
it was not until he came to New York that he identified them as a category of
art, giving the English name "Readymade" to any object purchased "as a
sculpture already made." When he modified these objects, for example by
mounting a bicycle wheel on a kitchen stool, he called them "Assisted
Readymades." Duchamp later recalled that the original Bicycle Wheel was
created as a "distraction": "I enjoyed looking at it, just as I enjoy looking at the
flames dancing in a fireplace."
Marcel Duchamp (American, born France. 1887–1968)
Bicycle Wheel
Date: New York, 1951 (third version, after lost original of 1913)
Medium: Metal wheel mounted on painted wood stool
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Nuit Blanche 2013
Forever Bicycles, 2013
Ai Weiwei – Beijing, China Installation
World-renowned Chinese artist Ai Weiwei will
mount a new edition of his Forever Bicycles
sculpture in Toronto’s Nathan Phillips Square.
3,144 bicycles will be connected into a threedimensional structure creating an incredible
visual effect. The sheer quantity of bikes and
the diverse perceptions of viewing points
create a massive labyrinth-like, visually
moving space.
Yong Jiu, translated as “forever”, is the
foremost bicycle brand in China and Ai reinterprets this everyday object to create a
complex and abstract sculpture representing Forever Bicycles, 2011
Photo: Reuters/Pichi Chuang
the rapidly changing social environment in
China and around the globe.
Ai Weiwei, Forever Bicycles,
Visit 24 hours a day, October 6 – 27
Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen Street West (At Bay Street)
Film Screening on October 5: Ai Weiwei:
Never Sorry
The inside story of a dissident for the digital
age who inspires global audiences and blurs
http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/2013-event/aithe boundaries of art and politics.
weiwei.html
Toronto City Hall Council Chambers: 7 pm /9
pm /11 pm /1 am /3 am /5 am
http://www.torontograndprixtourist.com/2013/09/nuitblanche-2013-forever-bicycles.html
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NEW
2013
Nuit Blanche 2013
The (Re)Generator Project, 2013
Chinedu Ukabam – Toronto, Canada Gabrielle Lasporte – Toronto, Canada
Interactive Multimedia Installation
Explore the concept of “RE” (REcycling,
REmixing, etc.) using fashion, visual art,
social media and projection. Audiences
can “weave” creations into the installation
by sharing examples of RE at
theregeneratorproject.tumblr. com using
#regenerator2013, #HMregeneration, and
#SnbTO.
www.hm.com/ca/longlivefashion
theregeneratorproject.org
theregeneratorproject.tumblr.com/
http://ca.blouinartinfo.com/news/story/948034/nuit-blanche-2013-spotlight-theregenerator-project
H&M Toronto Eaton Centre
1 Dundas Street West (Best viewed from the window facing Yonge Street)
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Nuit Blanche 2013
PLASTIC BAGS, 2001-2011
Pascale Marthine Tayou – Ghent, Belgium
Sculpture
A sculpture made with this most common
object, Plastic Bags is an echo of our daily
lives. Available to all, the plastic bag has
become a sign of the consumer society, and
the mobility symbolic of today’s society,
which is a central theme in the artist’s work.
PLASTIC BAGS, 2001-2011
This huge sculpture made of nets and bags
Pascale Marthine Tayou
is a symbol of the contemporary man,
entangled in a system of repetitive actions
SPECIFIC SCULPTURE UNKNOWN
and of narrow spaces, but also searching for
Pascale Marthine Tayou, PLASTIC BAGS
moments of sharing and trying to escape to
Visit between 9 am – 5 pm,
unknown, unexpected horizons. Now that
Monday through Friday, October 6 – 14
plastic bag use is being limited, this
Bell Trinity Square, 483 Bay Street
installation suggests a beautiful and
(North of Queen Street West)
politically correct way to use them: to
transform them instead into a work of art.
Revisit this project October 6 - 14. Details on
page 20.
http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/project.html?project_id=1306
http://www.pascalemarthinetayou.com
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Nuit Blanche 2013
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Nuit Talks Presents: Eras
History: Back to Basics
Personal narratives and a contemporary framing of culture and history are explored in
this talk with three artists.
Modernity: The rise of Modern Art
Reinventing the readymade, making the ordinary extraordinary
In partnership with AGO First Thursdays
A look at the iconic concept of Marcel Duchamp’s readymade and how it is used by
Scotiabank Nuit Blanche artists.
Future: Science & Technology in artistic expression
This talk explores the merger of art and technology in artists’ work and discusses
trends for the future.
Curators: Public, Academic and Institution
This year’s exhibition areas are explored with a public, academic and institutional
curatorial lens.
1) Three Curated Exhibitions x3
a) Off to a Flying Start a celebration of Duchamp’s first readymade
b) Parade the spectator is involved/moves, the parade is static
c) Romancing the Anthropocene acknowledges the triumph of science/human
achievement but cautions regarding environmental issues
2) Exhibitions include Open Call projects produced specically ...selected by the Nuit
Blanche Curator in consultation with the City of Toronto to complement the theme of their
curatorial vision.
3) Independant Projects
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Nuit Blanche 2013
Romancing the Anthropocene
Curatorial statement
The Anthropocene, or age of man, is a term proposed by geologists and ecologists as a
replacement for the Holocene, the current geological epoch that began over 10,000 years
ago. The Anthropocene marks a distinct era after the advent of the Industrial Revolution, a
period in which humanity has left an indelible mark on both the geological record and the
ecosystem. At face value it acknowledges the triumph of science and human achievement but
it also suggests a cautionary message regarding climate change, the destruction of natural
habitat, resource depletion, and the extinction of plant and animal species.
Using the Anthropocene as our guiding principle, we want to address the complexities of
this proposed new age within the context of the urban environment while addressing our
enduring, and yet troubled relationship with the natural world.
—Ivan Jurakic and Crystal Mowry
http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/2013-event/exhibitions/romancing-theanthropocene.html
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Nuit Blanche 2013
The Arctic Trilogy, 2010-2011
Janet Biggs – Brooklyn, USA
Video Installation
Travel through ice-floe clogged waters, past polar bears and under glacier walls. Descend
into claustrophobic ice tunnels formed by ever moving glaciers and follow a woman coal
miner as she works in freezing temperatures and relentless darkness in Janet Biggs’ Arctic
Trilogy. Each of Biggs’ three videos features an individual searching for meaning at the end
of the earth. Isolated and vulnerable, the characters in Biggs’ videos struggle to define and
defend their sense of self in extreme environments. Challenged by the elements and the
unknown, Biggs’ subjects (one of which is herself) and a kind of sublimity. They experience
the destabilizing power of nature, resulting in both awe and terror.
On loan from the Tampa Museum of Art. Thank you to The Arctic Circle Program,
Lesley Johnston and Smack Mellon.
Revisit this project October 6 - 14.
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Nuit Blanche 2013
The Anthropocene, 2013
CALEDONIA DANCE CURRY A.K.A. SWOON – Brooklyn, USA
Mixed Media Installation
Caledonia Dance Curry also known as Swoon is known for her intricate wheat-pasted paper cut outs and
prints that have emerged on streets across the globe. These pieces generally depict images of people who
surround her in her daily life, people she meets during her travels, friends, and family. She takes inspiration
from both folk art and historic sources, ranging from German Expressionist wood block prints to Indonesian
shadow puppets. Her cut outs are often pasted onto deserted buildings and bridges playing with the natural
environment of the work, taking into consideration the physical space and community where they exist. She
is an American street artist based in New York City.
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Swoon
<after an attack
by the Splasher
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