Photo Essay – Nuit Blanche #yxe
On Saturday, September 27th, a few thousand people descended on 20th Street in Saskatoon for the first Nuit Blanche, an awesome all night art party. Museums and businesses opened their doors with food and installations, and the street itself became a gallery for art, dance, and music to roam free. I’m sure there was plenty that my camera miss
Tons of kids out! It was a very family-friendly event for a night party!
The streets were full of people — thankfully, the weather was mostly cooperative. They often hold these festivals in the winter in other cities.
There was art in buildings like the AKA Gallery, but also outside.
The beautiful Roxy Theatre, a Saskatoon landmark. It had some shorts showing, as well as some installations set up. Also, washrooms, which were very helpful (even if I accidentally wandered into the ladies room).
A part of one of the installations inside The Roxy. I’m guessing that opening this box would release hordes of undead evil, but I was still full from a late dinner so I didn’t want to open it and find out. Nothing worse than fighting demons and zombies when you feel all full and gross.
There was a cool thing happening in front of this crowd, involving lights, bikes, and music, unfortunately, I wasn’t a professional enough camera man to elbow my way up to the front, and you couldn’t really see much from behind the audience. Let’s just call this “audience watches cool shit.” Also, I wish I was a little bit taller, I wish I was a baller, I wish I had…you get the point.
I’d also had few beers, so, you know, some of these photos are blurry. Also I’m a shitty photographer. But I had to snap these ladies on stilts. I don’t think they were part of Nuit Blanche — I think they just dress like this normally and wandered into the fray.
This reminds me of the Ryan Gosling movie, Only God Forgives. Except with less Muay Thai boxing and murder and more Chinese food.
I don’t know what this lit shade means, so this caption sucks. It was a nice beacon of light while walking down the street though. So I’m not sure if it was art or just ambient festival lighting. Or maybe…both. Whoa. I just blew my own mind.
One thing the Saskatoon Nuit Blanche had that none others do was an actual blacksmith that traveled forward in time to be there. He showed us how to make some stuff, he had some time travel adventures and solved a mystery, and he hit the food trucks. All in a day’s work for a blacksmith lost in time.
See, I took the odd cool picture. Not sure what he was making. A giant metal pig with a curly tail?
Wasted Cathedral blasts some amazing drone sounds over the proceedings. True story: after I took this photo, we were walking back to our car. Some guy wandered up and asked, “Do you hear that? What is that?” I told him it was a guy making drone music on a balcony on 20th, four blocks away. He looked at me for a sec, then said, “Okay good. My girlfriend told me I was going insane. So I’m glad to know that you hear it too.” Yup. I hear it too, buddy.
A good night was had by all. (Or, at least, I assume so. It would be a weird ending to this post if I had to tell you about a couple of people that didn’t have a good night. And it wouldn’t match the moon picture so nicely).
About the Author
Craig Silliphant is a D-level celebrity with delusions of grandeur. A writer, critic, creative director, editor, broadcaster, and occasional filmmaker, his thoughts have appeared on radio, television, in print, and on the web. He is a juror on the Polaris Music Prize and the Juno Awards. He loves Saskatoon. He has horrible night terrors and apocalyptic dreams.
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