Nuit Blanche: Art Meets City Hall

Saturday Night - Contemporary Art Replaces Cars in Downtown Toronto.
For one night Toronto is the city that doesn't sleep.

It was cold. It was dark. It was crowded. For one night only, the city of Toronto, became the city that doesn't sleep and it was all done in the name of art.
The fifth Annual Nuit Blanch ran from dusk on October 1st until dawn on Sunday October 2nd. There was too much to see for the city to go to sleep. In total, more than 130 projects – from smaller, more intimate experiences to large scale spectacle -- kept the interest of hundreds of thousands Canadians who came to the city core to experience magical moments with art and their City.
Scotiabank Nuit Blanche is Toronto's annual all-night celebration of contemporary art, produced by the City of Toronto in collaboration with Toronto's arts community. Since 2006, the event has featured more than 600 official art installations created by nearly 2,500 artists and has generated more than $70 million in economic impact for the city.
The official kick-off for Nuit Blanche was held on the top floor of the Sheraton Hotel across the street from City Hall. It was 90-minute party where the arts community got to share drinks with provincial and civic officials.
Councillor Michael Thompson (Ward 37, the western half of Scarborough Centre) handles the art portfolio for Toronto council and as a result spoke at length at the launch. He presented a plaque to the organizers of Nuit Blanche on behalf of Mayor Rob Ford (who was well noticed no-show). Instead of reading the inscription by himself, he invited those members on council in attendance to come on stage and help him. A record number of councillors - ten - were on stage to open the 7th annual event.
What time did I leave? Well my wife and I, just back from South America, found it punishingly cold. We left just after 9pm after watching and listening to a musician play a drum solo inside a deconstructed GM vehicle. My son Andrew was hardier, he threw in the towel at 3.30 am Sunday morning.
This year Nuit Blanche asked attendees to give input into the event -
To view their/our feedback you can visit: http://scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/shareYourNight.shtml

Cutlines: Top: Scotiabank corporate art archivist meets councillor Michael Thompson.

Above – Dazed and Confused. Even though I work for art galleries and artists I don’t always “get it”. Never-the-less I stood for the camera in front of an art installation in the middle of Yonge Street at Queen. I am in front of a stack of plywood sheets that have been painted lime green.

Above: A record number of city councillors - ten in all - came up on stage at the formal kick-off to the Nuit=Blanche 2011. At last year's kick-off I counted five city councillors. Noticably absent was Mayor Rob Ford.

The bull (in designer Bvl Gari's sunglasses and smoking Cubans) has finally left the china store. Let the press launches begin

PUBLICISTS CELEBRATE THE END OF THE FILM FESTIVAL AND GET BACK TO WORK

The bull smoked Cuban, sported Bvl Gari's signature purple sun glasses, had tail hair done by England's Stuart Phillips and was followed by every single reporter, blogger, videographer, photographer and autograph seeker in the Free World. And now, finally with the Toronto International Film Festival out the door, the bull has stomped out of the shattered tea shop leaving local publicists to clean up the mess and try to get the PR machine back to normal.
While TIFF rolls through Toronto PR people in Ontario's Golden Horseshoe always have to stop and hold their breathe. Forget trying to get publicity if you aren't peddling movie stars, book-into-movie deals, directors, made-for-TV films and did we mention movie stars?
For two weeks in September the newsrooms are empty. Every reporter, photographer and videographer is out on the street working TIFF assignments. Doesn't matter what beat. Sports reporters find out which stars went to see the Blue Jays, Foodies file stories on what the Stars are eating, Business reporters talked about the economic impact, and, well you know the drill.
For publicists not working the TIFF beat it is a hard go. Doesn't matter how good/new/unique/fascinating your project, NO ONE will listen. ( I gave up and took a writing assignment and went shark diving in Nassau during the last week in TIFF).
Toronto's cultural attractions know about the black hole media draw of the bull in the china shop and for the most part postpone all PR events until after the TIFF. Good philosophy, except that the week following TIFF -- this week -- is almost as busy as it was during the actually Film Festival.
I have attended and/or been involved with 5 major PR activities this week ... and I write this Wednesday morning at 9am. The rest of the week looks equally busy!
What I have attended this week!
Nuit Blanche Camera in hand I covered the Monday morning outdoor Nuit Blanche News Conference. Scotiabank Nuit Blanche celebrated its past and kicked off its fifth year with the unveiling of Some Enchanted Evenings, a 5th Anniversary Retrospective Exhibition presented by Scotiabank featuring photos, videos and previously mounted works from the 2006-2009 editions of the free all-night contemporary art event.


As pressers go, this was a good one. Rita Davis (the city's director of culture), Mayor David Miller, and Scotiabank VP Duncan Hannay. There was some real news - Yonge Street will be closed down for Nuit Blanche, the TTC has a special $10 24-hour pass for up to 6 people per card and a lot of interesting sounding projects slated for October 2nd - 6.57pm to sunrise in downtown Toronto.
It is the unscripted events at a presser that often times get the biggest laugh. Press conference for Nuit Blanche held outside, just off King Street in front of the Scotiabank Plaza. Half-way through the presser a north wind blew street smells (think raw sewage) into the crowd. Mayor David Miller probably wondered why some people suddenly started holding their noses while he gave one of the most upbeat Nuit Blanche speeches ever given in the festivals 5-year history. A senior Scotiabank official standing beside me looked southward at the bank towers across the street. " Humph" she said, "count on the Royal Bank to try and stink up our moment in the sun!". Smell went away. The media got their stories and it was on to the next event.
The Ontario Science Centre, coming off a strong successful summer season with its Harry Potter Exhibition (no science, just Hollywood) previewed its newest large format Imax movie on Tuesday.

Legends of Flight, brought to you by Canadian director Stephen Low (of Titanica fame - first Imax movie about the Titanic). The posters make it look as though this is a movie about the historyof flight, but, it is actually a documentary about the struggles Boeing Corporation is having in bringing the new technology (no aluminum, just carbon fibre) 787 Dreamliner to market. As a former Litton Systems Canada PR person (they built nav systems for the military and commercial avionics industry) I was moved by the scenes of gliders, jet fighters and super-sized passenger planes appearing on screen.

If I have any criticism it is over Low's heavy use of CGI technology, it takes the joy out of enjoying a film when you realize the Harrier jets that are shown escorting a Cdn destroyer were created by CGI. Although the film's producer, Pietro L. Serapiglia, says that Boeing did not cover the costs of this 4-year long film project, they are going to love this 45-minute large format explanation as to why they are over 2-years behind on deliveries (800+ sold, 0 delivered). I would suspect that Boeing is less than pleased that the film compares the shape of the Dreamliner with the Albatross!
The Science Centre brought along Serapiglia and Captain Heather Ross to the Media Preview. Ross is a Canadian born Boeing test pilot. She flew 40 missions in the Gulf War, was a pilot for United Airlines and now is one of only a dozen or so people who have actually flown the Dreamliner. What is like to be at the controls of airplane that has 220ft wide bendable wings? "This is a great airplane from a pilot's perspective. IT is very comfortable, and because we can fly at lower altitudes (compared to traditional jumbo gets) there is not as much pilot fatigue."

What have I do so far this week?

* Ross King Media Alert. The Governor General Award winning author will be the star of my media preview to an art exhibition based on his book Defiant Spirits. The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven. Ross is the curator and the author! The preview is September 30th 10am to 12.15. McMichael Canadian Art Collection. Kleinburg. (drop me a note if you want to attend).
* Bruno Bobak: Love, Life and Death September 18 to December 5, 2010. Media launch on Sept 30th. Artist in Gallery on Sunday Oct. 3rd for member's opening (everyone welcome) Minister Chan to open show!
* CTV friends of broadcast journalist Karlene Nation asked me to send out a media alert for Wednesday evening. Which I have done (and you can see on this blog page). Karlene has taken a leave from CTV where she is Diversity Editor. She is running for city council in Trinity Spadina against another media person - councillor Adam Vaughan. The drink fest starts at 7pm but I suspect most of her colleagues will give it pass because the network doesn't like their employees messing in politics.
* Sent out Word on the Street invites to the media. The day-long outdoor book festival runs this Sunday at Queen's Park. Author Elizabeth Abbott will be there all afternoon (so will I)!

Coming Up:
Oregon State is holding a media launch for their winter tourism promotion. The Art Gallery of Ontario is opening a Goodman exhition and the Royal Ontario Museum has an event around its current Terracotta Warrior show. The Sony Theatre is reopening and on Saturday the Aviation Museum is free to the publics.
And for the rest of the week? Media interviews, dinner with a High Tech magazine (for my aerospace work) and followup to the Pan Am Diversity press conference held last week.
Cutlines:
Top: Small Stage. Big Show. Mayor David Miller, bank officials, artists and city workers try to find space on the small Nuit Blanche stage
Second from top: Rita Davis at the Nuit Blanche media launch
Third from Top: Two Harrier jets escorting a Canadian destroyer? Never happened. The jets were created through the magic of CGI. Film's maker says the destroyer is real!
Second from bottom: Captain Heather Ross and producer Pietro L. Serapiglia
Bottom: Cover shot of author Ross King's new book.

The Quick and the Really Dead - Two Toronto October Media Events

Nuit Blanche - Yorkville gallery hires artist to body paint muscles on a living model. At Ontario Science Centre it's Body Worlds 3 exhibition strips skin and exposes muscles of dead models.

FINAL: Two Toronto media events held in early October are strangely linked by the body's muscles and vital organs. A trendy Toronto art gallery paints them on a living model, while at the Ontario Science a traveling exhibition shows bodies with their skin removed, their muscles exposed and vital organs dangling from partial removed spinal cords.
Scotiabank Nuit Blanche was held October 3rd, sunset to sunrise in downtown Toronto.
The city's fourth annual Nuit Blanche engaged audiences in a massive participatory celebration of contemporary art.
Two days prior the media was invited to attend a launch at Scotiabank's main branch for the massive art event. Reporters were given an extensive press kit which highlighted some of the more newsworthy "art" happenings that were to take place during Scotiabank Nuit Blanche. One that caught my eye was an entry about the Liss Gallery in the Yorkville Art Gallery District.
Mini-Digital Camera in hand I dropped by the gallery after midnight to watch Canada's edgiest new artist; Jonathon Ball, spray painting the bodies of a man and a woman, both who had the physique of bodybuilders.
Ball painstakingly painted the man to look like his skin had been removed and his muscles,bones and organs were exposed to the air. It was a marvelous exercise in ultra-realism x-ray art. Over the course of an hour about 100 people stopped to gawk. I was the only "media" taking pictures. The gallery was happy for the traffic and were not slighted that the press took a pass on their midnight paint-in.
Five days later I found myself attending another media event again involving exposed muscles and organs. The Ontario Science Centre held a press preview of Gunther von Hagens’ BODY WORLDS 3: THE STORY OF THE HEART. exhibition.
This is the second time that a Gunter von Hagen exhibition of sliced, diced and splayed bodies has come to Toronto's Science Centre. Three years ago the show was so popular that the building stayed open 24-hours a day, throughout the last weekend of the exhibition's run.
I attended the first exhibition and came out again to this month's press launch. It is a different show this year and received a much different response from the reporters.
Yes there are more than 200 authentic human specimens on display, including entire exposed bodies, as well as individual organs and transparent body slices. There is also a giraffe, thinly sliced from the tip of its head to its hooves, in the show.
This time the popular exhibition (it has been seen by over 26-million people) strips back the flesh and muscle and looks at the human heart to show the effects of healthy lifestyle choices.
The first time Body Worlds came to Toronto the exhibition was quite controversial(parts of the show were banned this year in Cologne). The Ontario Science Centre was accused of exhibiting desecrated bodies simply to make money. The negative comments didn't hurt the science museum, it was one of the most successful exhibitions in their 40-year history.
This time around the Ontario Science Centre went to great pains to explain that Body Worlds 2 meets the Science Centre’s mission: “To delight, inform and challenge visitors through engaging and thought-provoking experiences in science and technology.” Gunther von Hagens’surgeon wife, Dr. Angelina Whalley came from Germany to speak at the media preview lecturing that all of the bodies on display were self-donations. The willing donors, most of them German (70 Canadians have already agreed to donate their bodies) were aware that their bodies would be stripped of skin, treated in plastic and twisted into life-like poses sans flesh to entertain and educated the masses.
Judging from the reaction to the overflow media crowd (more attended this year than at the September 2005 launch), the explanations were unnecessary. The press understood what the show is all about. So did a group of students who also attended the media scrum - their questions during wrap-up Q&A were not about outrage or sacrilegious money making displays, or concerning indignities to the body, but instead were technical in nature - How Long Does It Take? Do family members know that their mothers and fathers are on display?
So the city "gets it". The media still see it as a newsworthy show. I got "it" too, and I think that it should be compulsory viewing for science student in the province to see BodyWorlds 2 (you will never smoke again after seeing an exposed smoker's lung)here in Toronto.
What has me scratching my head (with the skin still intact thank-you) is why was there no media turn-out for a living BodyWorlds style model standing in the window of a Yorkville gallery? Yet, there was a gaggle of photographers and reporters to on hand to see a display showing two skinless acrobats holding each other while their spines and vital organs are dangling out of their backs? In Yorkville the inner workings of the body were being exposed by a very talented Canadian artist working with two models who have also been sculpting their form for years. No one died to make this exhibit happen.
At Body Worlds 3, the dissection of human bodies has become a major industry encompassing body harvesting, an Asian preparation factory and an aggressive German touring exhibition company which has already presented similar Body Worlds exhibitions this year in Buffalo, Waterloo, London, Philadelphia,and Cologne. This time, Science beat Art - thumbs literally down.



CUTLINES:
Above: Dr. Angelina Whalley at the Ontario Science Centre podium
Top. Liss Gallery in Yorkville (Toronto, Ontario) hired models for Scotiabank Nuit Blanche all night art celebration. This man stood in the window for an hour being body painted by Canada's edgiest new artist; Jonathon Ball.
Middle: BodyWorlds 3 female acrobat.
Bottom: Photographers and cameramen wait for the press conference start oblivous to the skinless bodies locked in a final pas de deux. The body organs have been removed from the backs of the bodies; those are brains dangling from the exposed spines. The red barrels represent how much blood a human body pumps in one day.

Snakes on a Pane (of glass) - Museums, Galleries, Events and Festivals go trolling for media

Trying to Get Attention While Toronto's Media Industry Is Busy Running Away And Hiding

It is hard to get pre-event media coverage for just about anything these days. And given the state of the economy it is not hard to figure out why.

Newspapers have few inches to spare for puff-pieces on new shows at the galleries, updates on festivals and launches of websites. Look whats going on. The Globe and Mail writers' guild is set to go on strike in ten days, the Post is shutting down its Monday edition and the Star and Sun have had their share of job cuts too. In TV land Global owners, CanWest, is technically bankrupt. CTV is so broke its asking its viewers to help lobby the CRTC for an increase in cable fees. The CBC is in the process of shedding programmes and employees both on TV and radio.

So, with that in mind what is a publicist to do to get the attention of the media? You pimp up your media event!

In the old days, one could usually get a few reporters, camera crews and radio guys to come out to a launch provided there was some meagre attempt to put on a show - and - tell. Tools of the trade were pretty basic - a golden shovel for the sod turnings, a giant pair of scissors for the ribbon cutting and of course, the giant cheque for the funding presentation.

Nowadays no one in the media - not even an ad rep looking for business - would take time to show up at a giant cheque ceremony. They want sizzle, and if you are a publicist, you had better deliver! Don't even think of simply having a speaker at a podium and expect the media to show up en mass.

Over the past two weeks I have been involved in the planning of three different events - a festival funding announcement (Scotiabank Caribana), the opening of an art exhibition for Northwest Coast Contemporary First Nations (McMichael Canadian Art Collection) and a juried show of the work of Black Canadian Artists (ROM). As well I have to attend the launch for Nuit Blanche and followed the launches for Luminato and for a Library and Archives Canada Internet announcement.

One of my events has already taken place (see next blog entry below) - an announcement of Federal Government funding for Scotiabank Caribana. The Feds, worried that there could be an election call this week, wanted Caribana to immediately announce that it was receiving funding support.

The Festival usually gets $100,000 a year from the Federal Government to help run North America's largest outdoor event. This year, the Feds increased the funding to $416,000. With that sort of money the Festival was only too happy to put on an instant press conference.

Ex-Broadcaster Peter Kent, a Minister of State for the Conservative Party, came to a Friday morning press conference at the Harbour Castle Hotel along Toronto's waterfront. No giant cheque at this event, instead, the Minister, the head of Tourism Toronto, a Scotiabank VP and Joe Halstead, the head of Caribana, were surrounded by beautiful Mas Dancers bedecked in skimpy Caribana costumes. It was a well attended event and no one questioned why the girls were there.

Yesterday I attended the launch of the Ontario Science Centre's summer exhibition of Lizards and Snakes: Alive with Toronto photographer David Tollington. The week-day media launch had everything an assignment desk would want - a compelling news story, good speakers, and great visuals (school children gingerly touching snakes, museum people feeding small animals to hungry boas and a menacing looking 4 metre long Burmese Python).

The show itself has 50 live lizards and snakes from four different continents. It runs all summer long and if the Science Centre's clippings are as good as the media turn-out, it should be a very successful exhibition.

The launch of Nuit Blanche didn't have snakes or skin. Instead the breakfast launch depended on a central location (The Art Gallery of Ontario) and a cavalcade of well known artists, business leaders and politicians to announce the line-up for this annual one-day art festival. The press conference was jammed, reporters working in three different languages (English, French and Mandarin) listened as Mayor David Miller outlined what would be happening this fall in the all-night citywide art happening.

Although the media event was a success, the actual coverage that Nuit Blanche received was much smaller than what it received at its pre-recession 2008 media launch.

And finally, there was the Library and Archives Canada's Wednesday media conference to celebrate world-first online launch of the complete Historical Canadian Censuses, 1851-1916. It appears to have been talking heads and computer screens - no dancing girls, blue tongued skinks or art gallery curators (they did have Mayor Miller though) to attract the media.

Who won the prize for holding the best press conference over the past two weeks? If the award is based on attendance, Nuit Blanc won easily. In terms of ink and broadcast minutes ... both Scotiabank Caribana and the Ontario Science Centre did better than expected. And the big loser? The Library and Archives Canada -- it is hard to make the launch of a website newsworthy, sexy or even memorable.

Cut line: Green Emerald Tree Boas, kids and the snake handler all part of the draw of a June media event to announce the new exhibition Lizards
&
Snakes:
ALIVE!
at the Ontario Science Centre. All three photographs taken by Dave Tollington.

Challenging Traditions: Contemporary First Nations Art of the Northwest Coast. June 27- September 20, 2009. www.mcmichael.com
Lizards & Snakes: ALIVE!June 17 - September 7, 2009,www.ontariosciencecentre.ca
Scotiabank Caribana. July 14 - August 3. www.caribanafestival.com