Nuit Blanche 2024 - ARTORONTO

Nuit Blanche, 2024 / Text and Photo: Elin MacRae

We Remembered You, Too

Harbour Square Park West is aglow with alternating fuchsia, red, turquoise, and purple, bathing the looming willow trees in jewel-tones. Music plays throughout the park, casting an atmospheric calm with its ambience. The deck leading to The Sundial Folly is blocked off, only accessible to those who have waited in line. When it is my turn, I ascend the wooden stairs and walk around the bend, finally setting my eyes on the massive concrete sculpture. Transformed by Dr. Syrus Marcus Ware, The Sundial Folly is no longer a blank globe, but rather a planet of possibilities. A projector lights up the sculpture with scenes switching rapidly: a nebulous swirl of galaxies transitions into a deep underwater seabed with the text “We are roots and rivers, not rulers.” There are startling contrasts of colour, their vibrancy and allure opening the viewers’ minds to immerse themselves fully in the experience.

This exhibit is part of the And the spaces between us smiled exhibition, which celebrates uniting difference and distance, of turning to one another, and shared world building. We Remembered You, Too aims to encourage contemplation about memory and identity: it is a pathway through the memory of the Earth, Toronto, and us. This immersive experience transforms a known space into a new one, its effects penetrating deep in the creative and collective mind.

LUMI

This interactive installation, which is another chapter to the And the spaces between us smiled exhibition (curated by Dr. Syrus Marucs Ware), truly drives home the overarching theme: strangers sit together on these luminous and bouncy balls and bridge the distance between them through interaction and socializing. Instead of looking at the art, viewers are actively participating in it, uniting and showcasing the piece’s purpose. These interconnected-balls stretch along the Simcoe Wavedeck, weaving among its hills and undulations. Here, I witness participants bounce up and down; some sit quietly; and others take up as much space as they can on the cushy art. This is what makes the exhibition come alive.

The installation fosters connections between strangers and, similar to We Remembered You, Too, celebrates the bridging of difference and the diminishing distance between us.