Toronto

By Ellie Pritts

June 25^th, 2015

on assignment

Anyone who knows me knows I love Canada. I love being there and I particularly love working there, which is why I was super stoked to cover NXNE for Exclaim! in Toronto this past weekend. It was my third time in Toronto and I was determined to do some more urban exploring this time around. Naturally I started in Graffiti Alley, since I love graffiti and I love alleys.

Graffiti Alley

AKA the place where Rick’s Rants happen.

Hearn Generating Station

I was thrilled when my editor e-mailed me about covering Unsound Toronto. This is primarily because it took place in an abandoned energy plant. In fact, this two-night event was the first event open to the public in the Hearn Generating Station since it’s been shut down.

One glance at the place and you can see it’s massive. The smokestack was one of the tallest in the world!

Unsound Toronto

Being inside the Hearn was even cooler than I imagined. It was rough, gritty and totally unpolished. Huge chunks of debris were around pools of water dripping out of pipes overhead, creating big mud pits (much to my dismay the first night when I was wearing sandals.) I loved it. It was definitely a field day for photographers.

Visuals from Robert Henke's "Lumière II", which was incredible.

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robert henke is a genius and a wizard

To be honest, I didn’t know most of the acts playing this event. That’s part of what drew me to it. So when Robert Henke’s set started, I had no idea what to expect.

He performed a work called Lumière II. There were lasers and sounds and amazing shapes and really I can’t even come close to describing it. All I can say is, as a synesthete, it was like someone had cracked my brain open and projected it onto a screen. I have never felt so in tune with a performance before. It was crazy. At the end I realized my mouth was actually comically agape the entire time. I was floored.