898 
When the organizers of this year’s Nuit Blanche proposed to locate a marquee piece of art in Canoe Landing Park, Gabriel Leung, Vice President of Development for Concord Adex and champion of public art at Concord CityPlace saw an opportunity to interface the dusk-to-dawn art festival with the developer’s permanent public art collection, Canada's largest. As Leung explains, with their artwork located throughout the Concord CityPlace site, the collaboration meant not only sponsoring a piece at the park but also that the Concord ArtSpace collection itself would be “treated as a special exhibition piece by the Nuit Blanche organizers”.
The artwork that was selected by Nuit Blanche for the Canoe Landing site was 'Open Mind' by influential Cuban artist Yoan Capote. The piece is constructed entirely using generic crowd-control barriers, the kind the throngs attending Nuit Blanche would have seen being used all over the downtown core Saturday night to section off city streets for foot traffic. But unlike those strictly utilitarian barricades, Yoan’s barriers have been extended on their supporting struts to rise well above the heads of the average pedestrian. Their rigid linear structure has been transformed into rhythmically undulating forms, creating an intricate maze for the bemused and curious crowd to explore.
What is not obvious, either from within the structure or even while viewing it at a distance, is that the carefully placed and shaped barriers form the folds and channels of a massive sculpture of a human brain. Fortunately, there are several information pillars on the site that offer a representation of the piece as seen in its entirety form a slightly raised perspective. Yoan says that the original inspiration was the famous Nazca Lines of Peru, where the imagery on the ground can only be discerned from above.
“The idea of Nazca is very interesting”, he says, “because you have to be above everything to understand things. Similarly, "You need to go outside of yourself to understand your own actions.”
Ideally Yoan would like the installation to include video cameras positioned above and a large screen projecting real-time images of the people interacting with the piece, but budget constraints made that not possible.
Though the deliciously contradictory use of barriers for a piece that the artist describes as representing an open and accepting mind seems intrinsic to the concept, Yoan admits it was something of an inspired last minute improvisation.
“It was an idea that came when I was understanding that with the budget we had, I had to find another solution.”
It was at City Hall on his first day that he noticed the barriers in Nathan Phillips Square, which Yoan says “are very political from my point of view from Cuba”. It occurred to him that these would be the best material with which to construct his sculpture.
Video by Craig White
“It was important to the concept of the piece to lift them, transforming a barricade into a gate. Then it’s the sensation of welcoming—this barricade at the top looks like a ‘friso’ (frieze) in architecture.”
Yoan also placed yoga mats on the spongy artificial turf within the structure to encourage people to experience the piece from another level – both physical and spiritual.
“When people come in another moment of the day they feel this sensation of the bamboo trees or the forest…and they can sit and meditate, or pray. This is a piece about tolerance, talking about no more barriers, no more conflicts. And Toronto and Canada are a good example of that.”
As much as this year's Nuit Blanche has provided Torontonians with the opportunity to discover and appreciate the creative mind of this important international artist from Cuba, so too has Yoan Capote developed a deep and sincere appreciation for our city and country.
“This city Toronto—and Canada in general—is a country that in my point of view is an example of peaceful coexistence among different cultures and different ways of thinking and ideologies. I think for the first time in my life I saw this balance, no? And this human utopia—at least in a big percentage, happens. I was very happy that the curator chose that piece for this event in this place. Actually the idea came to my head looking at a park in New York and seeing a cosmopolitan city. But to make that piece in this event gives more meaning to my piece and to my concept.”
If you missed your chance to wander through Yoan Capote's 'Open Mind' at Nuit Blanche, his piece in Canoe Landing Park at Concord CityPlace is one of ten projects that will remain on display through October 13. Below is a full list of the extended projects and information about where and when they can be viewed.
Open Mind by Yoan Capote
October 5 and October 10 to 12, noon to 10 p.m. and October 6 to 9 and 13, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at Canoe Landing Park, 95 Fort York Blvd.
Made in China by Maria Ezcurra
October 5 to 13, open 24 hours a day at 330 Spadina Ave. (north of Dundas Street West)
Silent Rise by Glenda León
October 5 to 13, open 24 hours a day at Campbell House Museum, 160 Queen St. W. (at University Avenue)
Screaming Booth by Chélanie Beaudin-Quintin
October 5 to 13, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Nathan Phillips Square, 100 Queen St. W. (at Bay Street)
Big Top Grand Stand by SuttonBeresCuller
October 5 to 13, open 24 hours a day at Clarence Square Park, Spadina Avenue and Clarence Square.
8th Wonder by Michael Oatman and Brian Kane
October 5 to 13, 6 p.m. to midnight at Union Station, Great Hall, 65 Front St. W. (west of Bay Street)
Ascendant Line by Wilfredo Prieto
October 5 to 13, open 24 hours a day at Fort York National Historic Site, 100 Garrison Rd. (West Gate)
Melting Point by LeuWebb Projects, Jeff Lee and Omar Khan
October 5 to 13, 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. at Fort York National Historic Site, 100 Garrison Rd. (visible from the fort)
Good News by Antoni Muntadas
October 5 to 13, 24 hours a day at Toronto Public Library (Fort York Branch), 190 Fort York Blvd.
Global Rainbow by Yvette Mattern
October 5 to 9 and 12 to 13, 6 p.m. to midnight and October 10 to 11, 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. at 222 Spadina Ave. (south of Dundas Street West but visible city-wide)
