woocommerce-shipping-per-product domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/staging.esse.ca/htdocs/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131complianz-gdpr domain was triggered too early. This is usually an indicator for some code in the plugin or theme running too early. Translations should be loaded at the init action or later. Please see Debugging in WordPress for more information. (This message was added in version 6.7.0.) in /var/www/staging.esse.ca/htdocs/wp-includes/functions.php on line 6131\nProvocatively titled You had to go looking for it<\/em>, curator Nicholas Brown\u2019s exhibition for this year\u2019s Nuit Blanche transformed the spectacle and crowds that are symptomatic of the festival into a commentary on the physical and psychic effects of corporate capitalism. Located in the city\u2019s downtown financial district, the exhibition manipulated imagery from the 2010 G20 protests that took place in that neighbourhood into new scenarios where the implications of public space, political demonstration, and surveillance could be examined. <\/pre>\n\n\n\nSeveral of the works took a playful approach to manipulating the pub-lic space around the financial centre, such as Curtis Grahauer\u2019s I just know that something good is going to happen <\/em>(all works 2011), which transformed an alleyway into a corridor of simulated rain, lights, and fog. Not only did the work replicate a Hollywood film shoot that offered passersby the prom-ise of glimpsing an exciting scene, but, as viewers gleefully sped through it under the protection of umbrellas, it also worked as a meteorological taunt, daring the weather not to cooperate with the outdoor event. Nearby, Jeremy Jansen and Niall McLelland\u2019s installation Barricades <\/em>reconfigured the materials typically used to block off streets, such as caution tape, road barriers, and large sheets of plywood hoarding, into captivating minimalist sculptures. Much like Grahauer\u2019s piece, Barricades <\/em>suggested preparations for the \u201creal event\u201d that was yet to come and questioned the threshold at which peaceful public assembly becomes civil unrest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The standout intervention in the exhibition was Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard\u2019s SOON<\/em>, a monumental installation in Commerce Court, a large courtyard wedged between high-rise office buildings. SOON <\/em>offered the viewer an immersive experience that began before the courtyard was even in view. A soundtrack of hovering helicopters and deep mechanical humming, composed by the electronic musician Scanner, emanated from the hidden space and created a deep sense of unease. Like the crescendo that accompanies a suspenseful scene in a horror film, the soundscape created a mood of rising tension that was palpable. (In fact, the sound-track was carefully designed by the consulting group Arup to incorporate infrasound, a low frequency sound that resonates with its surrounding surfaces and is said to trigger physical and emotional responses in the listener.) In the courtyard itself, wandering spotlights and artificial fog being blown around by the brisk fall wind suggested a post-apocalyptic atmosphere of surveillance. The unnerving feeling of being watched by unseen eyes was amplified by the behaviour of two human-operated spotlights, which tracked the movements of individual spectators with an insidious persistence. Through their spectacular manipulation of the space, Forsyth and Pollard\u2019s work created an unworldly environment that was nonetheless eerily familiar: a kind of visual speculative fiction about the future of public space. <\/p>\n