Right off the bat, I love the concept of Nuit Blance. Love love love. Public art and an all nighter seems to me like a fun combination, especially right at the crest of Autumn when we need that little oomph past summer into the cold.

But last night made me want to stay home and doodle.

First, I’m not one for drunk crowds. I can handle massive amounts of people ok, I can handle drunks, but I’m not cool with having to shoulder my way through the combination of both. The last two Blanches seemed overrun with drunk 905ers and Ryerson students. I saw just as many people walking and drinking as I did for Pride. Am I getting old and grumpy because I can’t handle a city wide party? Probably.

Secondly, the crowds made it impossible to experience anything, and I was sure as shooting I wasn’t going to wait until 3am when the viewing time eased off. The one exhibit I wanted to see (the cage match Lucha wrestlers at the Bus Station) had a throng of people so deep to get in, it surrounded the building 40 feet deep. Sorry Sgt Dickson, I only got to see you in Twitter feeds!

Thirdly, the good stuff was on the other side of the city. All the interesting, engaging pieces were at Liberty Village, apparently. I know the organizers can’t judge what area gets the “cooler” exhibits, but they could condense them a bit more into one area? Yeah I know, then it loses the “city-wide” feel. Well if I can’t get out to see art, then the artist’s actions are pointless, n’est-ce pas?

Weirdly enough, our greatest ridicule from last year became our favorite area: Cabbagetown had some interesting pieces that weren’t overrun with drunks or gawkers. Glowing spiders, plant shrines, nests you can sit in, bike art and Photojunkie’s Horror Movie Storyboard, which SharkBoy and I got a panel each in! Cheers, Rannie!

I think next year we’re going to pass on the big stuff (city hall, extremely popular exhibits, etc), if we go out at all.