Nuit Blanche, the city’s free all-night contemporary art event, takes place Saturday, Oct. 5 and Ryerson community members have four projects that the public can check out.

From sunset to sunrise, downtown Toronto is transformed into a huge gallery where hundreds of artists showcase more than 110 art projects at various venues. Faculty of Communication & Design graduates Alex Kurina, image arts ’04; Finlay Braithwaite, RTA School of Media ’03; and Ryan V. Hays, RTA’00 collaborated with Foundation Studio to create Echo Chasm, which will be on display at the Royal Bank Plaza (200 Bay St.).

In addition, three student-designed projects from the Department of Architectural Science were created under the supervision of professor Vincent Hui, and will be exhibited at the Bata Shoe Museum (327 Bloor St. West). The installations were designed by the [R]ed[U]x Lab, an extracurricular group made up of students from various years and disciplines who investigate the use of digital fabrication and interactive technologies in designing projects ranging from household products to urban installations.

Below are descriptions of the Ryerson installations:

• Echo Chasm is an immersive video and sound installation that invites participants to interact with “echoes” of themselves as they move around a massive column of light. Users watch, listen and play with instances of their previous selves, which float upwards into the sky.
  
• Using responsive technology, RevitaLight provides a dynamic experience for the passersby to engage with the installation space via embedded motion sensors.
• Ad Astra takes the idea of “reaching for the stars” and transforms a small space into an immersive and ever-changing interactive environment. Visitors experience a surreal infinite environment engrossed by illuminated spheres.
• Light_Scape is a tactile installation that relies on user interaction to grow organically. Each user contributes to the evolution of the Light_Scape, by altering the appearance of the surface. The Light_Scape consists of individual, easy-to-handle cubes, each containing a tri-colour LED that cycle through a spectrum of colour. The modular shape of the light cubes allows users to freely explore limitless configurations and patterns. The cubes and subsurface are covered with Velcro, giving them the strength to defy gravity. The Velcro's fuzzy texture diffuses light and produces a soft pulsing glow, which when accumulated, creates the illusion of a living organism.
• Hybrid Globe, by architecture professor Arthur Wrigglesworth, consists of a polyhedral sphere with animated colours and images that change based on the interactions of participants.

For complete event details and map, please visit www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca.