Today, I bumped into two separate artists within fifteen minutes of each other, Ryan Ringer and John Shipman, both engaged in intriguing performances for Nuit Blanche.

Bark News. I was intrigued by the "guerrilla project" Ryan Ringer, the director of Methinks Presents, described to me. Bark News is a Performance art work engaged in an aggressive journalistic investigation into the cultural production of this city. Bark News has infiltrated such events as the Opening of the Drake Hotel on Valentines Day, the Toronto Outdoor Exhibit and various art parties around the city. During Nuit Blanche, the Bark News team will be hitting the pavement, asking the hard questions and digging the dirt. I feel the heat of the competition.

As Is Northern Lights Sanctuary 2006--John Shipman tells me he had been working on producing the sound of the aurora borealis for a film, and felt it would make for a great component in an art installation. Combining this aura with suspended light modules activated by air currents, various radios tuned into Toronto stations activated by timers, and a live violin performance by May Ing Ruehle, Shipman fleshes out this ambitious sanctuary project inside the sanctuary of St. Matthew's United Church, 729 St. Clair Avenue West. The technical aspects were beyond my scope of understanding, yet still fascinating. How often do I get to use "icosahedrons" or "platonic solids" in a sentence?