Taking art to the streets: Ottawa needs Nuit Blanche, a splashy one-night outdoor festival staged around the world

September 7, 2010 · Filed Under Blog, Industry

Peter Simpson from the Ottawa Citizen thinks Ottawa artists can present Nuit Blanche.

Last fall, Ottawa provided the most epic part of Toronto’s Nuit Blanche, the one-night festival of outdoor art that is held annually in cities around the world.

Ryan Stec, an Ottawa artist, choreographed the intricate lighting system on the CN Tower, set it to original music and then arranged for a Toronto radio station to broadcast the soundtrack in sync with the light show. If you had a radio and a clear view of the tower, you could experience live art unveiled on a massive scale, all night long.

Stec’s was one of dozens of temporary outdoor art installations set up around Toronto’s core, some smaller and others grand. It set me to thinking, if Ottawa can come up with the most visible moment of Nuit Blanche in Toronto, why can’t we do it in Ottawa?

Read the full article: Taking art to the streets

Here is a sample of Ryan’s installation, “Bright Lights, Big City”.