For Nuit Blanche 2024 taking place Oct 5, 2024 an installation piece co-created by Toronto-based artists Jordan King and Nathan Bruce titled Love Across Distance will be presented at Toronto’s The ArQuives, located on Isabella Street near Yonge Street. This interactive installation is intended to symbolize love across distance.
Long distance relationships are a reality for many LGBTQ2S+ individuals, particularly in remote areas of Canada, as online technology now allows many people to connect with others across geographic distances.
The installation offers a sense of experiencing love despite a geographic distance from a romantic partner. Social media, dating apps and online dating have made it possible for people of all backgrounds, genders and orientations to meet and connect, despite geographic distance. But how are the sensorial experiences of love and intimacy experienced? Is it possible to truly feel sensations, to develop trust and learn about one another if technology, video and sound are the only methods of communication while apart?
Using a combination of sound and infrared technology, this interactive installation allows audiences to ponder these questions, while considering, is it possible to experience true love across distance? The installation piece features two interactive stations with a representation of a partner or lover, visible in one of the windows of the heritage house, which is home ot The ArQuives in Toronto, Canada's 2SLGBTQ+ Archives. Particularly for 2SLGBTQ+ people in remote parts of Canada, meeting lovers or romantic partners may only be possible through technology, sometimes across great distances.
Jordan King is a Canadian multi-disciplinary artist, performer and writer. Her practice is rooted in performance, archival research and intergenerational dialogue. Jordan's work is generative, intersectional, and exploratory.
Nathan Bruce is a projection and lighting designer working in theatre and interactive installation. He is a Bachelors of Fine Arts Graduate of York University (2020) in Theatre Production & Design, with an extensive and rapidly expanding resume. Jordan and Nathan have co-designed the interactive installation for "Love Across Distance".
“On October 5, 2024, take part in an all-night celebration of contemporary art that transforms Toronto’s public spaces into extraordinary landscapes featuring over 80 free artworks from 7 p.m. on October 5 to 7 a.m. on October 6.
This year’s theme, Bridging Distance, invites artists, curators and audiences to explore the multifaceted ways we experience and perceive distance through a multitude of independent works and commissioned projects by local, national and international artists. The event also offers free admission to some of the city’s finest museums, galleries and cultural spaces throughout the night, having activated their sites in response to the theme.” Nuit Blanche / City of Toronto