Out of Site: A Nuit Blanche counter-program

It had to happen (or has it already?): A direct response to Nuit Blanche's forced 12-hour takeover of the downtown core. Earl Miller, a local curator and critic, has assembled some well-known artists (that's a mock-up for a piece by An Te Liu, for example) for some parallel programming on the same overnighter as the big event. 

It's called Out of Site, and the aim is to excavate the cultural history of Queen Street West, which -- Parkdale notwithstanding -- has been all but taken over by trendy retail and places to east and drink and splashy tourist events -- like, ahem, Nuit Blanche -- which have mostly served to obscure its rich past as the city's art-world centre of gravity. 

Liu's piece notwithstanding, will we be able to tell the difference between Nuit Blanche itself and Miller's commissions, which include personal favourites such as Roula Partheniou and Ulysses Castellanos?We'll have to wait and see. But in a town where fireworks displays are embraced over the more challenging -- and rewarding -- business of real explorations, in theory, this is a needed foil. Stay tuned.