Nuit Blanche Needs White Knight to Clean Up Mess

At Nuit Blanche this year I found what I call the "brain scan" exhibit on the U of T campus, Ai WeiWei's bicycle installation, scenes from Romeo and Juliet in various parts of a condo building on King Street West, a pair of cars programmed to drive themselves around and around and not crash into each other, and the guy whose embroidery was being projected onto a screen so visitors could watch him stitch by stitch, all admirable, all intriguing. I would have added the huge inflatable insect installation to the list above, but my experience was ruined by some arty student type telling a friend and me that "insects are not that big in real life, guys." My reply was not what he wanted and he wandered away mumbling about perception and reality.

On the downside was something I blogged about last October - yahoos out for a street party. I have nothing against fun, levity, high spirits, street theatre, drinking, and a general good time. Nor do I want the night to become just for the arty and the earnest, because the transformational power of art, even for those who don't "get it" there and then is enormous. But I get the distinct impression that Nuit Blanche is becoming a pretext for a certain stratum of cementhead to wander among the crowds being obnoxious simply because they can.

I'm not the only observer to wonder about where Nuit Blanche is going: drunks, pools of vomit, loud, exaggerated bonhomie that can seem threatening to some, and so on were all on display this year. As well, two young men were stabbed and one of them died, although it's not at all clear if these crimes were somehow related to the festival. So, what to do? Nuit Blanche needs a White Knight to come in and clean things up without becoming a killjoy. Because if a hero on a white charger doesn't show up soon to save Nuit Blanche then the police and city authorities will start bearing down, and that means the end of a brilliant art night in Hogtown.