Cycling around Nuit Blanche

CANADA - If you're in Toronto today and tonight, its a good chance to check out Toronto's local art scene and catch live performance art, art galleries and a variety of events going on in the city during the annual "Nuit Blanche" art festival. It starts around 6 PM and goes until 6 AM the next morning.

Call it your chance to cycle around downtown Toronto and meet lots of people interested in art.

One of the things you could see is BICITYCLE (Bike City) by Tokyo artist Sakaguchi Kyohei.

BICITYCLE is about mobile life and is inspired by the lifestyle, innovation and survival skills of homeless people in Japan. His mobile "sculptures" emphasize mobility and recycling. The houses of Tokyo's homeless people are easy to dismantle and remake because people are forced to move their houses regularly. Their homes have water, gas, toilet, and electricity, but they're made from the scraps they find and in this case incorporates old bicycles to make the "houses" more transportable.

From a bicycle mechanic's perspective that just sounds so kewl. It also means these homeless people are pretty good mechanics themselves.

For Nuit Blanche Sakaguchi created 11 'mobile housing units', each somehow attached to a bicycle. The audience can interact and relocate the works within the area. (Thats correct, you get to ride the bikes.)

The BICITYCLE event is near Dovercourt and King Street West. Consult one of the free Nuit Blanche maps that art galleries are handing out.

Kyohei Sakaguchi is also a writer, adventurer and architect and has shown his works internationally. I think this particular art piece is worthy to go in art history books.

If you attend the event could you please email me (charlesmoffat[@]charlesmoffat.com) with some photos of Sakaguchi's bikes / etc? Unfortunately I will be busy at the Ben Navaee Gallery where two of my paintings are showing tonight and schmoozing with attendees.