Arts Court houses a collection of galleries and arts groups in an old courthouse downtown near the Byward Market, and for Nuit Blanche, it was one of the hubs of the festival. This is a view of the building in daylight the following day. The structure dates back to 1870, built in the Italianate style, and was previously known as the Carleton County Courthouse.
This art installation of DeHavilland Beaver planes was set up in the SAW Gallery downstairs. It's titled Beavers, by the artist Frank Shebageget.
The offices of Opera Lyra can be found here at Arts Court as well. The company regularly performs at the National Arts Centre- at the end of September, they were doing a production of The Barber Of Seville, which will factor into a series I'll be doing down the line from a visit to the NAC I made a week after Nuit Blanche.
In one of the corridors, this cabinet contains stage masks belonging to Odyssey Theatre, which has facilities here as well. The company does outdoor performances during the summer, and inside performances across the city at other times of the year.
This space had been given over for the evening as a lounge for the animation festival also taking part in various venues in the city.
One of the groups here is the
Ottawa Dance Directive, which had dance artists on hand for Nuit Blanche. A couple of those acts were a bit risque; the Sisters of Little Or No Mercy would have been shocked. This space was left open, with music playing as I passed by- and a girl dancing to the music.
Nearby, a winding corridor led to three company members engaged in two different acts. I photographed the second act at the end of the corridor- where the act consisted of two people painting.
I have more from Arts Court tomorrow, but I'll leave off with this exterior night view of the north entrance.
