Nuit Blanche: End Of The World

The “Museum For The End Of The World” that you will find in various locations around the city, predominantly around Toronto City Hall and the City Hall grounds itself, is an artistic expression focusing on Doomsday and end-of-the-world prophecies.

To quote artist Barr Gilmore “One of the greater ironies of human existence is the persistent anticipation of its end. Dates are named and dates pass. Ancient texts are read with an eye to temporal alchemy, and whether the result of monster waves, unstoppable pandemics, nuclear calamities, machines on the rampage or the sun ceasing to shine, the idea of Doomsday – that revelatory moment of the end of the world – can be at once the fire of speculative lamentation and the spark of insightful creativity.”

Indeed, the link between creativity and the apocalypse has a long history, from Noah’s shipbuilding and organizational skills to the literal bean counters buried deep beneath the mountains of Norway, stockpiling all the seeds across the globe for a post-apocalyptic garden. In this way, the very idea of the Wunderkammen, with its princely mission of amassing, cataloguing, and displaying was fueled by a fear of the end of the world. “Museum for the End of the World” at Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2012 is a provocative, critical rumination about the end times and a world in transition.

Acclaimed Toronto-based designer and artist Barr Gilmore RCA MDes has created an environmental graphic design for the “Museum for the End of the World”.