Take a Picture at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2010:

The second floor of Levack Block, our venue for Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2010. The place looks great! This venue really added a lot to our project.
Kevin, who has volunteered to help us for half of the evening, checks his phone to see how much longer we must wait before we can open for the evening.

Before the show opens to the public, we turn down the lights, and do a final check to make sure that all of the images are working properly. More attention should have been paid to this one.
Before the show starts, we check to see just how much ambient light we can have while still being able to make out the images on these invisible paintings. As it turns out, we can have quite a lot of competing light. This is good.

Around 4am, the crowds die down quite a bit, so we can take it easy, lean against the wall, catch our breath, sip some water, and relax for a few moments. It's been a long night.
Another rush of people!
Take a Picture at Nuit Blanche 2010     Take a Picture at Nuit Blanche 2010     Take a Picture at Nuit Blanche 2010

Take a Picture at Nuit Blanche 2010     Take a Picture at Nuit Blanche 2010     Someone shooting 'Take a Picture' with a flash during Nuit Blanche 2010

Someone shooting 'Take a Picture' with a flash during Nuit Blanche 2010     Take a Picture at Nuit Blanche 2010     Take a Picture at Nuit Blanche 2010




Take a Picture at About:Blank

The second public showing of 'Take a Picture' came only one month after Nuit Blanche. This time, the venue is Open Architects. Kyle Clements was asked to curate a show, and Take a Picture was a perfect fit. Did it help that Kyle Clements is also one of the two artist behind 'Take a Picture'? Possibly...
The instructional posters from Nuit Blanche were salvaged, and two of them were in good enough condition to re-use in this show. We may have to print them bigger next time. People still insist on using a flash! The dark grey wall that this painting was placed on tricked many cameras into letting more light fall onto the senors, making the invisible image on this canvas particularity vibrant.

The Main entrance into Open Architects.
Its hard to get an accurate idea of what the 'Take a Picture' experience is like from these openings, because they were taken from digital cameras, which reveal the images that are hidden on these invisible paintings. In person, that canvas looks blank. People often do a double-take after seeing the image that appears on their camera's view screen.

One of the great things about interactive art is how it promotes friendly discussion among viewers. This is great to see!
Open Architects has a very interesting decorative light (out of frame) which cast some interesting shadows on this piece, adding an unexpected extra dimension to the work.

To the eye: blank canvas. To the camera in the cellphone: light painting
Note:
Never let Victoria cater your art openings. The food she prepared for this show was so good, very few people journeyed away from the snack table.



Take a Picture at Cold Compress, hosted by the Toronto Burning Man Group



Brad is demonstrating how Take a Picture works.
Cold Compress was a great party with a great turnout. This was what "the party room" looked like. Our art was installled in the other room, but we spent a good amount of time in here.

Ok, these are not ours; these glowing birds belong to Alex Leitch, but they were too beautiful to not photograph and post. Great work!
We thought it might be cute to put "Kiss" above the washroom doors. *nudge nudge wink wink*

Take a picture functions like an artistic time bomb. They go completely unnoticed during the event itself, only to reveal themselves days later while reviewing the documentation.
This is the room where Take a Picture was installed. We were some of the firsts to arrive on the scene during set-up, and we had no idea that the big empty room we had entered in the morning would turn into this by the evening. Fun times.

Not only was "Kiss" placed above the entrance to the washroom, but "Wink" was also placed beside it. *nudge nudge wink wink* Oh, if only we had thought to include a 'nudge' image in this series.
Its always fantastic to watch the reactions of others as they experience "Take a Picture"