Nuit Blanche 2009

Nuit Blanche was a dreadful disappointment, but probably in large part due to the fact that I was exhausted and didn't get a chance to really make the rounds and give the event a chance. We decided to go out to Queen Street West in Zone C, to try to avoid the crowds. Fail. I think I've come to the conclusion, that now in its fourth year, Nuit Blanche is big enough that there will be crowds everywhere. In our walk from the Drake Hotel to Spadina Avenue, there were only a couple installations of note:
1) Nite Lite, a big Lite Brite made out of water bottles. It was fun to play with, but with so many people playing at the same time, it doesn't really give you much creative license. It turns into something that you do just to say you've done it.
2) City Sonic: The Cameron House in Motion, giant white ants getting installed on the wall of the building with some random music being played and other images and text being projected as well. The best part, seeing the guy using ropes and pulleys to haul himself and the giant ant, up the side of the building. I suppose it would be cooler to see the installation after its completion.
3) The Sight of Sound, had three of Steve Mann's Hydraulophone. I gave it a go, and quite enjoyed the experience. I would have liked to find out exactly what tones would be played with the device. Apparently, the Hydraulophone was part of the first edition of Nuit Blanche (which I wasn't around for) and a big, big hit. I was surprised as how much pressure you needed to put on each "key" to get a tone. Experimentation led water being squirted all over, including in my eye. Nice that they used warm water.
Queen Street West has many art galleries, so a lot of them were open, but I wasn't really interested in that stuff. Coupe Bizarre had a nude model which you could sketch, and I don't know if they were plants or just naturally talented people, but I was thoroughly impressed. The formal, non-art gallery-esque installations were spread out along Queen St. West, making for a night with a lot of walking, but not much viewing.
Oh well. I was so tired, that I didn't mind much.
Based on pictures that I've seen, next year, I want to stick to the core with all of the major buildings because that's where a lot of the major installations are. I presume that will mean fighting crowds, but I don't mind. The problem is, the Nuit Blanche website is dreadful, though it may not be avoidable. It's just getting too big, and there's no way that I want to go through the whole website to see what all of the different exhibitions are.
Fingers crossed that I'll be more well rested and can see more stuff at next year's event.