University of Toronto Magazine University of Toronto Magazine
Photo of an art installation of a sleeping bag inside a log on the left and a man lying with eyes closed on the right.
Cameron Reed and Liz Magor’s artwork “Burrow”. Photo by Nicole Crozier

Night Owls Unite

An all-night event at Hart House celebrated sleep – and the lack of it

In January, U of T hosted the ultimate pajama party: Night of Ideas, an all-night international art event. Held at Hart House and U of T’s Art Museum, the university is one of the first Canadian institutions to take part in the festivities – held in more than 50 cities throughout the world.

At the Art Centre, visitors checked out the Figures of Sleep exhibit – which reflected on the cultural anxieties of slumber. Visual artist Nicole Crozier captured this shot of her boyfriend, Cameron Reed (BA 2015 Trinity), next to Liz Magor’s piece “Burrow.” Over at Hart House, pajama-clad attendees sashayed down a runway to Madonna’s Vogue in a PJ pageant. There was also a midnight swim in the Hart House pool, a crafting session to create sleep masks in the Great Hall, roundtable discussions, dance performances and live music.

“Hart House is a magical place for an all-nighter. We have the fireplace. We have the pool. There’s food and drink,” says Barbara Fischer, executive director and chief curator of U of T’s Art Museum and one of the event organizers. And possibly most importantly? “There are couches to nap.”

See more photos, which were entered in Hart House’s Instagram contest: instagram.com/explore/tags/nightofideasto/

Recent Posts

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *