Toronto’s annual Nuit Blanche festivities are all about setting art into motion, so that’s once again how we captured our white night on the town, with this gallery of animated GIFs.
Installation: LEITMOTIF: Hands on the Van, 2012
Artist: Jon Sasaki. Toronto, Canada.
The Reaction: In conjunction with the Parkdale Village BIA, the Leitmotif project (curated by Stuart Keeler) sent 20 cube trucks out onto the streets of under-the-bridge West Queen West so that artists could experiment with public space. Each truck had its own unique identity and installation. For Hands on the Van, Sasaki aimed “to explore pathos and the absurdity of standing outside in the cold for $500.” He was offering up his artist’s fee, displayed like the aftermath of a bank robbery in the back of his cube van. At 7 p.m., contestants signed up to see if they could outwit, outplay and outlast. (But mostly endure, since the last one to take their hand off the van would be declared the winner.) At 2:50 a.m., there were no more bathroom breaks, so drunk guys were yelling “pee your pants!” At 5 a.m., the final two contestants split the cash and called it a night. They worked a 10-hour shift at $25 per hour. It seems more like a test of our capitalist hardwiring, no?
Art or…: An immunity challenge on an urban version of Survivor?
Overheard: “Does anyone have a sip of beer. Anyone?” —the charming, ever-amazing host of the event, Lex Von
Next: The Drake Hotel’s giant bedtime story
