Nuit Blanche 2008: House of Leaves
Our last stop was the House of Leaves, which was a recreation of Katherine L. Lannin’s home in an alleyway at Ryerson. She had wallpapered her home with pages from books, and was evicted for the fire hazard it posed. On the way to see it, we passed by a chess board painted on the street, and I was disappointed that there weren’t enough of us to play a game. In retrospect, I could have called out to other Nuit Blanchers to try to start a game, but I was too tired to have thought of that option at the time.
House of Leaves was a great last exhibit to see, because it was a quiet, reflective installation. Its tone and presence was entirely different from the duck pond. And although the pages were more accessible to visitors, and there were many pages “for the taking”, the very nature of the display did not invite the same type of interaction as the duck pond. People were more interested in seeing and reading (and, in my case, smelling…from a distance) the pages than in taking pages off to bring home.
In retrospect, I wish I had taken many more pictures than I had (for example, I don’t have one of the coin-operated “robot”). But I think I had a much better time being a part of Nuit Blanche than merely documenting it.
