If I had carte blanche at Nuit Blanche

Last night (or more accurately, this morning) I ventured out with the masses to see art. Lots and lots of art. So much art, that often I was mistaking regular inanimate objects around the city for art–is that bike art? I don’t know, but it’s just so beautiful.

In its third year, organizers did everything they could to make everything beautiful. They also vowed to make this year’s event ‘more user-friendly’. Since I haven’t attended Nuit before I had nothing to compare the night to–but I found getting around the city and finding the exhibitions very easy and painless.

So all in all a good time…EXCEPT (you must have seen that coming).

My one exception is the HUGE miss that Nuit and Scotia Bank (the lead sponsor) made in its pre-event digital footprint. In preparation for the night, I went online to help scope out my route. I scoured the Nuit site to find where the smartphone apps where available to download…half an hour later, I finally gave up. They didn’t make one?! Really?!

How could this be? Everyone has their phones with them, everyone is texting each other, some of the exhibits even hinged on Nuit-goers using their thumbs. An app with GPS capabilities, exhibit descriptions, and other tips and tricks to help get us through the night–Now that would have been user-friendly!

In a city where Blackberry’s and iPhone’s run rampant, a Scotia branded Nuit map app would have impressed this year. But at the rate that mobile technology is being entrenched in our culture, next year it won’t be impressive, it’ll be expected. 

Above is one of the cooler installments that I saw. Click here for the artist’s vision.