Hot stops

>> Silent dancing, scratch ’n’ sniff cinema, curious robots, zamboni bombing —the Mirror’s top tips for the fourth edition of Festival Montréal en Lumière’s Nuit Blanche all-nighter

COLOUR ME IMPRESSED: Mousseau’s mural

What are you doing between dusk and dawn, as Saturday, March 3 becomes Sunday, March 4? If you’re checking out the all-night Nuit Blanche taking place all over the downtown core, the question is, what aren’t you doing?

The fourth edition of the allnighter, inspired by similar events in Europe (the idea originally hailed from St. Petersburg, Russia, as a way to make the best of the midnight sun), offers an amazing spread of stuff to do before daylight drives everyone home. Not only that, the STM is extending bus service all night, and has special shuttle circuits plotted out. And dig this—most of what’s going on is absolutely free.

You can get full details at www.montrealenlumiere.com, but if you want a few worthwhile suggestions, read on.

Mousseau’s mural

(Siège Social Hydro-Québec, 75 René-Lévesque W., 6 p.m.–5 a.m., free): Here’s a feast for the eyes—the monumentally large, luminous, pulsating mural by the late Jean-Paul Mousseau, entitled “Lumière et mouvement dans la couleur,” originally installed in 1961. The innovative Québec artist’s rainbow-hued fibreglass wall, backlit by over a kilometre of computer-controlled neon lighting, was rebooted in 2002 and absolutely merits a look-see.

La Nuit Électronik

BORDERLINE CASE: James Holden

(Metropolis, 59 Ste-Catherine E., 10 p.m.–8 a.m., $35): For debauched dance maniacs, the cornerstone of Nuit Blanche is the fourth edition of this MUTEK/Piknic Électronik collab, which settles into the massive Metropolis this time around. On the bill are U.K. progressive-house hero James Holden, head of the Border Community label, alongside DJ Koze, the Mole, Ernesto and Bender. Don’t miss the appetizer either—an allstar iPod Battle, from 10 p.m.–1 a.m., boasting the likes of TTC’s Teki Latex, Piknic Électronik’s Coucouroucuicui and Q, Neon’s Mark “Iron Fist” Dillon and Ninja Tuner/discount Viking Jeff Waye.

_Traverse_Oblique_Crossing_

(SAT, 1195 St-Laurent, 9 p.m.–3 a.m.,$10): Classical music collides with laptop lunacy as the Quasar sax quartet and Matt Haimovitz’s cello octet get digitally reprocessed, and Mossa’s six-man DJ Orchestra is visited by the venerated Walter Boudreau as guest conductor.

See Art by Listening

(Zeke’s Gallery, 3955 St-Laurent, 9 p.m.–3 a.m.): Gallery owner and blogger Chris “Zeke” Hand has never been shy about sharing his equally insightful and irascible opinions on the local art scene, so if you’re thinking of factoring galleries and art museums into your Nuit Blanche itinerary, drop by here first, grab a brew and ask the man himself what rocks and what sucks. He’s checked it all out and will happily steer you to the good stuff.

The Other Side of Graffiti

(1000 de la Gauchetière W., 7 p.m.–4 a.m., free): Here’s a distinctly north-of-the-border spin on bombing public vehicles—a crew of graf artists go to town on the Atrium’s in-house zamboni. Drop in and watch, chat with the can controllers, or slap on skates and go for a spin around the action as it happens. On a similar note, catch the breakdance battles going down at Place-des-arts metro from 1–5 a.m.

Julius Popp

(Oboro, 4001 Berri, 5 p.m.–5 a.m., free): Noted German artist Popp fuses fine art and high technology with installations at his first Canadian exhibition, which kicks off party-style during Nuit Blanche. One work, “bit.fall,” uses carefully calibrated water drops by the zillions to literally spell out the zeitgeist in mid-air, while “micro.adam” and “micro.eve,” a pair of innocent robots, gradually grope towards self-awareness as you watch.

Silent Disco

(Place Loto-Québec, Old Port, 9 p.m.–3 a.m., free): Clamber into the giant, inflated Sphère Loto-Québec, slap on a pair of the headphones they’re handing out and dance like crazy to the DJ sets by Soundshaper and Nathan Burns piped into them. Freaky projections on the skin of the sphere, care of VJ Tapis, are bound to look almost as nutty as you will, to anyone watching you from outside as you bust wacky moves to, apparently, complete silence. Alternately (and equally free of charge), you can do some skating under ultraviolet light (wear white!) at the nearby Bassin Bonsecours, or catch comedic beatboxer Charlypop—that’s right, he’s half stand-up comic, half one-man oral rhythm section—at the Scène Hydro-Québec at 7 p.m. and 8:15 p.m.

Spasm Night

(Café Cléopâtre, 1230 St-Laurent, 9 p.m.–3 a.m., free): Tintin goes ballistic, zombies go domestic, ninjas fight werewolves, Rick Trembles snacks on caca, and Ilsa, She-wolf of the SS, gets her groove on in this putrid parade of plasma and perversity. Not only will the gang from Spasm—Québec’s indie festival of homegrown gore, chop-socky, cartoon and sci-fi flicks—share the best material from the recent fifth edition of their festival, but they’ll be launching their new science-fiction anthology DVD as well, with Cleo’s lovely drag queens hosting and toasting the whole sordid affair.

Montreal Under the Snow

(Café Campus, 57 Prince Arthur E., 8:30 p.m.–5 a.m., $5/free if you say the not-so-secret password “hot hot hot”): If there isn’t enough snow for you outside, Café Campus is swamping its dancefloor with snow. Doesn’t mean things won’t be hot, especially with last week’s Mirror cover girls, the Contrabanditas roller derby damsels, on hand.

Through a Glass, Darkly

(Espace Verre, 1200 Mill, 8 p.m.–5 a.m., free): Need a little break from the cold? Warm up next to the glassblowers’ fires as the craftspeople at Espace Verre work their magic before your eyes. An exhibit of glassworks by Karina Guévin and Cédric Ginart is also on display.

John Waters’ Polyester

(Cinémathèque québécoise, 335 de Maisonneuve E., 10 p.m., 11:30 p.m., 1 a.m., free): Sorry, anglos—the version that’s screening is French-dubbed. On the other hand, while you can find the English-language original of this 1981 mess-terpiece from Baltimore’s titan of trash John Waters at finer video stores around town, you won’t find the legendary Odorama cards anywhere but at the Cinémathèque. That’s right, the movie was originally released with a scratch-’n’-sniff gimmick, and here’s your chance to finally enjoy it the way it was intended.

Latest news from Pluto

(Planétarium de Montréal, 1000 St-Jacques W., 10 p.m.–4:30 a.m., free): Pluto’s been relegated from “planet” to “tiny, frozen hunk of crap in space,” so let’s give the lil’ fella some love, okay? The Planetarium’s projections let you know everything and anything about the icy ass-end of the solar system, except why mean scientists hate it so much.