Nuit Blanche provides creative start to new year

The first days and weeks of the new year are prime time for creative inspiration, and visitors to the Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba will discover that and more at Wheat City Nuit Blanche on Jan. 10. The theme this year is Possible Worlds, billed as an “invitation to chaos, optimism, and fantasy.”

“We came up with Possible Worlds early in the year,” says Lucie Lederhandler, artistic director at the AGSM (agsm.ca).

“It’s about the importance of creativity, how profoundly important that is, because if you can’t imagine possibility, whether it’s better or worse — things can be better and things can be worse — you can’t change, right? It prohibits the possibility of change. So that’s the idea of chaos, and optimism and fantasy. The imagining for the better, for the worse, the idea of possibility.”

The evening will be self-guided. Information will be posted on the website and handbills will be available. Wayfinding signs will be displayed throughout the gallery.

The gallery will be jam-packed with every inch of the public space on the main floor and more in use. The main stairwell will be used as a concert area.

“The imagery that I always like to use is if you were to dream of a shopping mall, it doesn’t exactly make sense. But you know that if you open that door, you’re going to find something. You’re going to be allowed in there, and you’re going to be able to explore every door, every corner. And it’s always worth checking under the rug to see if there’s something special under there,” she says.

“I also like the metaphor of the mall because there’s a little bit of instruction. People really know how to behave in a mall. And that’s what we try to do with Nuit Blanche with these kinds of engaging, interactive projects. They’re activated by your presence. So you show up and you go, so what do I do now? There’s always a little bit of instruction there.”

Proposals were on the table early.

“One of the really interesting proposals is a VHS remix station. This person had found a VHS editing machine, like a robot thing, where he can plug in two different VHS tapes. And there’s so many people with these collections that they’re really excited to loan them for use. It’s kind of recreating a video rental store and then doing a live remix of those VHS tapes alongside the cellist who’s improvising over that,” she says.

It’s a wild variety of offerings. A team of geographers are coming to create a “speculative map” in a dark room with a light table. An aerialist will perform in the gallery, and Lederhandler says they have a group of friends who invented their own role-playing game.

“They invented it, and for about a year they’ve been playing it. They’re going to explode that into real life and the audience will be able to come and be part of their role-playing game. We also have an artist in Taiwan who’s going to be tracking real-world input that people will contribute from their phones into a digital display to imagine the world made of code,” she says.

A large number of musical performances will be scheduled throughout the night in a dedicated space, so expect to enjoy those musical performances and the musical elements to other projects.

Last year’s Wheat City Nuit Blanche saw about 600 people come through the gallery and Lederhandler expects similar numbers or better.

“We received 42 applications, which is incredibly twice as many as we had performing last year. I should say most of the submitted projects are collaborative. So within those 42 projects, I would estimate 100 different artists are represented,” she says.

She says feedback has been overwhelmingly positive and they are especially proud that though the event is not specifically designed for children, guests have said it is family-friendly.

“Everybody gets something different from it and nothing’s going to be unsafe. You can come in for 20 minutes or you can come in for the full five hours. And like a river, it’s always going to be different at any point in the event,” she says.

More is happening beyond Nuit Blanche. Look also for a new show in the Kayes Community Gallery called “The Boy in the Forest,” featuring a children’s book by Dustin Glaseman, (who is better known as a wildlife photographer). Displayed alongside Glaseman’s magical story will be original illustrations by local artists.

“Artists from our community came together to illustrate the book and every page is illustrated by a different artist,” says Lederhandler.

“The art that’s come in has been delightful, whimsical, a soft blanket, warm cup of tea, with imaginary creatures frolicking through a forest. It’s going to be incredible starting in December with the opening reception on January 15th and running through March 22.”

Wheat City Nuit Blanche takes place Jan. 10, from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. at Art Gallery of Southwestern Manitoba (agsm.ca). Admission is free.

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