Lost amongst the luminaries Montreal nuit blanche
We arrived in Montreal early Saturday morning, check into my apartment and headed bright and early to Plateau for a yoga session and spin class after the all night bus from New York. Hit in the face by the cold air and surprising amount of snow fall I was sorry I didn’t bring along boots. After checking my email at a cyber cafe and having lunch I headed back to get ready to head to the old town for the Celebration of light fireworks display.
It was so cold that I could hardy hold my video camera to record some of what I was seeing let alone handle my SLR. The Canadians rough the cold wearing no hats and some in surprisingly light jackets. The fireworks were spectacular as usual and was so close to them unlike the displays in New York that are usually on a barge in the Hudson. I shivered my way on to find a metro to get me to the Belgo events, I warmed up in the Montreal Science Center checking out some of the exhibits there.
Eventually I moved on. With some sort of sixth sense while looking for the Square Victoria metro stop I stumbled upon Galerie Pangee where I went last year for the Kurt Colbine Corney Love photo exhibit. The show of was not so good this year, but interesting enough that I stayed for a glass of wine and to listen to Violemment romantique music interlude. Photographer Nico Stinghe, whose work invites you to question how you experience and view the delicious torment that is love didn’t have much of interest to me. so moving on I headed to the village.
Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) student had set up house with living room environments on the sidewalk. Kinda cold I thought to be lounging on the sofa watching TV in sub zero temperatures.
The interactive media students of UQAM appropreated the main facade of the St. Jacques bell tower for one night and illuminate it with interactive moving images and audio. Passers-by will be invited to interact with the “ghostlights” which, in the tradition of the theatre, always stay lit so that the stage never goes dark. Kinda cool.
Heading further down St. Catherine I went into Métropolis to check out some of the music at that venue. Karma Atchykah was in the middle of a set so stayed a while to chekc it out. I was there last year to see Dutches Says.
It was getting late and I needed to take a break so headed back to the apartment intending to meet a friend later for a drink at Upstairs that was free after midnight. Unfortunate i fell asleep for the night missing out on listening to so Jazz.