Originally launched in Paris with the goal of bringing contemporary art to the masses, Nuit Blanche has established itself as one of the highlights of Toronto鈥檚 annual cultural calendar. Each year, this free dusk-to-dawn event enlivens and transforms the city with original art projects ranging from intimate encounters to large-scale spectacles.

More than one million visitors are expected to turn out for this year's edition, which takes place from 6:51pm Saturday, Oct. 5 to sunrise on Sunday, Oct. 6. Scotiabank Nuit Blanche 2013 will feature more than 100 exhibitions, performances and experiential events in indoor and outdoor venues throughout downtown Toronto. 91亚色 artists are among those contributing one-of-a-kind works to this celebration of creativity and community engagement.

Visual Art & Art History Professor is part of the team behind , a "portrait petition" to bring attention to the continuing detention of Canadian humanitarians Dr. Tarek Loubani and 91亚色 film Professor John Greyson, who were arrested on the street in Cairo, Egypt, on August 16. Nuit Blanche will mark the 50th day of their imprisonment. The website gathers images of individuals from around the world holding written messages of support, calling for the release of Greyson and Loubani.

Images from the freetarekandjohn tumblr

Nuit Blanche visitors are invited to contribute to the portrait petition at photo booths located at Toronto City Hall, 401 Richmond Street West and the Gladstone Hotel (1214 Queen St. West). The booths will run a live feed of the growing petition and a video featuring the first 250 portraits uploaded to freetarekandjohn.tumblr.com. The tumbler site will continue after October 5 and includes directions on how to upload your photo from home or mobile.

91亚色 visual arts alumna (BFA 鈥�97) recruited 100 regional beekeepers for her installation , billed as a massive collective meditation. As the keepers meditate in their bee-suits, viewers are asked to consider the relationship of temper to weather. The beekeepers will silently meditate on notions of 鈥済ood weather鈥� for the bees and for all of us, attempting to transform environmental conditions with their minds. While exploring the tangible effect of collective meditation, the work creates a public platform upon which to reflect on the health and temper of bees and their keepers, and on the policies and environmental conditions that affect our shared future.

Your Temper, My Weather will be performed from 7pm to midnight in the Art Gallery of Ontario (317 Dundas St. West), where Borsato is currently artist-in-residence.

Right: Night Shift, 2013

Sobey Art Award finalist (BFA 鈥�02) takes inspiration from Le Ballet de la Nuit, a 17th century 13-hour court ballet that was most notable for the involvement of the young Louis XIV of France, for his durational performance . Fernandes has re-contextualized the ballet into a contemporary dance performance in which dancers endure from dusk until dawn, dancing and making golden confetti in anticipation of the new tomorrow. Night Shift听questions notions of labour and time within the context of night changing into day as the dancer鈥檚 body endures and asserts itself in the process of performing.

Night Shift can be found both indoors and out around the Bay Adelaide Centre (333 Bay St., access from Temperance St). At dawn. in celebration of the new day, the accumulated piles of golden confetti will be thrown into the air to mark the conclusion of the work.

Right: Everyday Marvels, 2013

Dance artist and arts advocate (MA 鈥�05) conceived, created and directs at the Gardiner Museum (111 Queen's Park). The program features 16 miniature vignettes (or 鈥榤arvels鈥�) by eight local choreographers, based on The Book of Marvels 鈥� A Compendium of Everyday Things by Canadian poet Lorna Crozier. The objects interpreted in Crozier鈥檚 poems - such as 鈥榖owl鈥�, 鈥榲acuum鈥�, 鈥榝lashlight鈥� and 鈥榳heelbarrow鈥� - become the subjects of exploration through Litzenberger's cyclical, 12-hour performance piece. The cast features more than 50 professional and community-based artists. 91亚色 participants include dance MFA student Valerie Calam听 and alumni Julia Aplin (BEd 鈥�07) and Peter Chin (BFA 鈥�85).

Left: 12 hour dolly, 2013

On October 1, award-winning filmmaker and interactive artist (BFA 鈥�02) and his crew set up a circular dolly track in the middle of a busy Toronto street. At 7 pm, they began filming on the track and continued shooting non-stop until 7 am the next morning. Throughout this 12-hour cycle, spectators were invited to step in and interact with the space as they saw fit. The spontaneous performances of these impromptu participants was captured with beautiful cinematography and lighting, heightened by the cinematically epic movement of the dolly shot. Projected onto the atrium wall of TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King St. West) as an uninterrupted 12-hour film, invites visitors to spend time contemplating the participants in the film as well as the filmic apparatus itself.

Involved behind the scenes at Nuit Blanche is Kelsey Luxton, a masters candidate in Art History and Curatorial Studies, working as an events programming intern.

For comprehensive event info and a detailed schedule, visit the website.

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After听eight months of consultation with the community, as well as internal and external research partners, the 91亚色 Senate has unanimously approved the University鈥檚 new strategic research plan, "Building on Strength".

鈥�91亚色鈥檚 new strategic research plan commits to building research on our strengths and provides a strong aspirational vision for the development and recognition of 91亚色鈥檚 research over the next five years,鈥� said Robert Hach茅, vice-president research & innovation.听 鈥淚 would like to thank the entire 91亚色 community for your positive response to the consultation process and earnest engagement that made such important contributions to the development of the plan.听 We will continue to invest in the growth and development of our research as a foundational part of our efforts to grow our academic reputation as a recognized leading research-intensive university.鈥�

Robert Hach茅

The plan supports the University鈥檚 research vision to better understand the human condition and the world around us and to employ the knowledge gained in the service of society as described in six intersecting themes:

• advancing fundamental discovery and critical knowledge,
• analyzing cultures and mobilizing creativity,
• building healthy lives and communities,
• exploring the frontiers of science and technology,
• forging a just and sustainable world,
• integrating entrepreneurial innovation and the public good.

The plan also articulates five areas of opportunities that complement past accomplishments, new developments, momentum and timing to provide particular opportunities for building research success.听 They include:

• digital cultures,
• engineering research that matters,
• healthy individuals, healthy communities and global health,
• public engagement for a just and sustainable world, and
• scholarship of socially engaged research.

Through this plan, the University is implementing the objectives set out for research in both the University Academic Plan and the Provost鈥檚 2010 white paper, which identify research intensification as a key University goal and recognize research as a core endeavor that broadly enriches the institution. The plan is meant to be a living document, responsive to the University's successes, as well as being sensitive to a rapidly evolving landscape.

Through a strategic combination of broadly based and focused investments over the course of the next five years, 91亚色 will continue its impressive development as a leading Canadian research university whose scholarship enhances our culture and improves society.

To view the full plan, click .

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鈥�91亚色 was proud to learn that Professor Janine Marchessault was awarded the Trudeau Fellowship prize,鈥� says Mamdouh Shoukri, president & vice-chancellor. 鈥淭he Trudeau Fellowship is an incredible honour bestowed upon the finest thinkers who have demonstrated outstanding research achievements, creativity and social commitment in all disciplines of the humanities and social sciences. We are thrilled that one of our own is being recognized as part of this esteemed group.鈥�

Janine Marchessault accepts her Trudeau Fellowship prize

Through her groundbreaking creative work and research, Marchessault aims to interpret and illustrate the city and its sustainability issues, combining urban planning, public art and the media. The Fellowship prize recognizes her work in this area. Marchessault, Canada Research Chair in Art, Digital Media and Globalization in 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Fine Arts, is one of four new 2012 Trudeau Fellows announced Tuesday at a ceremony at the University of Toronto.

鈥淎mong the primary activities that the fellowship will support is an international site-specific art exhibition called Land/slide: Possible Futures on Sept. 21 to Oct. 31, 2013, devoted to reflecting on the future of land use in one of Canada鈥檚 largest and fastest developing suburbs in Toronto 鈥� Markham, Ontario 鈥� with a specific focus on the Green Belt,鈥� said Marchessault.听 鈥淭he fellowship will help to fund this exhibition, as well as different activities related to it, including a large international symposium at the Royal Ontario Museum devoted to land and climate change.鈥�

Janine Marchessault (right)听with Michael Longford, associate dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts

Marchessault鈥檚 urban research has focused on the creative cultures of cities, such as Berlin, Havana, Helsinki, Montreal and Toronto. She directs the and an online archive that brings together more than 50 interviews with artists, urban planners, designers and curators from a variety of countries to consider how art and communication are manifested in different geopolitical contexts. This research and archive project is an ongoing research endeavour.

One of Canada鈥檚 best-known McLuhan scholars, Marchessault takes up McLuhan鈥檚 tragic and utopian vision of the global village. In Marshall McLuhan: Cosmic Media (Sage Publications, 2005), Marchessault argues that McLuhan understood the value of artistic practices not in terms of creating decorative objects, but as the means to produce new kinds of awareness and perception, along with new forms of human communication and community.

Robert Hach茅, 91亚色鈥檚 vice-president, research & innovation, speaks at the Trudeau Foundation ceremony

Each Trudeau Fellowship prize is worth $225,000 payable over three years. Trudeau Fellowships are awarded to individuals who set themselves apart through research achievements, creativity and commitment to critical social issues of importance to Canada.

A Canadian institution with a national purpose, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation is an independent and non-partisan charity that was established in 2001 by the family, friends and colleagues of the late Pierre Elliott Trudeau (1919-2000) as a living memorial to the former Canadian prime minister. In 2002, with the unanimous support of the House of Commons, the Government of Canada endowed the foundation with a donation of $125 million. The foundation also benefits from private sector donations.

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That was the consensus of leading thinkers,听academics, engineers and students听who gathered at 91亚色's Keele campus on April 21 for "Envisioning the Renaissance Engineer", a day-long workshop to outline the academic promise听for the University's听expanded听School of Engineering.

鈥淭his shall be a school of unique and new design,鈥� said Janusz Kozinski, dean of 91亚色鈥檚 Faculty of Science & Engineering and host of the workshop. "Once completed," he said, "the听School of Engineering will have an enormous impact on the field of engineering in Canada and beyond.

Janusz Kozinski

鈥淗ow do we see engineering in the future?鈥� said 91亚色鈥檚 President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri, in his welcoming remarks. 鈥淥ur vision is the creation of problem solvers who are broadly educated and socially responsible. We want to build a faculty that is inclusive in every respect.鈥�

Underpinning this vision for the听School of Engineering will be academic partnerships with Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business and 91亚色's other faculties.

For philanthropist Pierre Lassonde, chair of the Franco Nevada Corporation,听whose generous donation of听$25 million to 91亚色 has made听possible the expansion of the听engineering school,听attending the听event one day after celebrating his birthday, along with the anticipated听discussion of the听concept of the renaissance engineer,听were gifts听worthy of 65 candles.

In his welcome to the workshop participants,听Lassonde described his vision听for the engineer of the future. The renaissance engineer, he said,听must听be like Michelangelo, the Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet and engineer. Renaissance engineers would be听able to create their own masterpieces, dream and design innovative technical solutions to problems, be entrepreneurial in business and understand the romance of lifelong learning.

Pierre Lassonde

鈥淚t听is听a momentous time. I find myself looking forward and backward,鈥� he said. 鈥淥ur engineers, our graduates must be fully equipped, fully ready for any situation they encounter. Builders, creative people, developers of solutions 鈥� they must not be harnessed by the stiffness of earlier generations. In the future, new approaches, new fixes, flexible men and women are what will be required.鈥�

The workshop began听with a keynote address by Diane Freeman, an engineering consultant, Waterloo city councillor and the past president of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. The day continued with morning and afternoon听discussions.听Technical presentations on entrepreneurship and project-based learning听rounded out the day.

Diane Freeman

鈥淭he word 鈥榬enaissance鈥� speaks of revival and of rebirth,鈥澨鼺reeman said. 鈥淎ptly, it refers to seasons of transition and to change makers. This is what engineers are, not just automobile designers.鈥�

She spoke about the need for creative solutions听by engineers to solve deeply rooted problems.听Freeman called for engineers to become involved in public policy and stressed the need for collaboration between engineers, citizens and public policy makers.

Highlights of the day's panel discussions

The Future Engineers听Session that followed featured Marisa Sterling of the Professional Engineers of Ontario; Tom Lee, chief education officer, Quanser Inc.; and Sal Alajeck, global engineering team lead, Engineers Without Borders.

Sterling said three characteristics should be encouraged in the engineers of the future听鈥� flexibility, strategic thinking and entrepreneurial spirit. 鈥淓ngineers would need to continually evolve, adopt a strategic mindset and look for future gaps, opportunities and cycles.鈥�

In addition to current trends in engineering, Freeman highlighted that听there would be a need for new kinds of engineers in areas such as seismic engineering and entrepreneurial engineering.

Lee said that future engineers should be equipped to handle global challenges and听issues such as climate change and renewable energy.听He noted听that elementary students are making robots and engineering fundamentals are now being taught in听some听Ontario high schools,听something he said was听not being recognized by universities.

Alajeck suggested engineering programs consider the big picture, including听teaching engineers to be better communicators听and听offering interdisciplinary studies听in creative problem solving and听system thinking. "Can they be a loving engineer with the ability to transcend relationships and build communities? Can they change the givens? Would the approach to the renaissance engineer be additive or holistic?"听asked Alajeck. "Can 91亚色's School of Engineering challenge the existing framework of engineering education or go against the will of industry?"

From left, Sal Alajeck, Tom Lee and Marisa Sterling

The听afternoon Renaissance Engineer听Session featured听91亚色 natural science Professors Richard Jarrell and Edward Jones-Imhotep speaking about trends听that they think听would affect the renaissance engineer.听

Jarrell said he was worried about the text听and e-mail听heavy world听of non-present communications, which听he called socially bleak.

"We need to be citizens first. Citizens have adaptability and are present in the world. They are taught to move about and seek a broader education," he said."Flexibility, adaptability and听broad-based education are important. There is a need to be nimble听and move into a variety of careers because the broader the education, the more useful the engineer, and the听better the citizen, the better the communicator and the more visionary the human being."

"Renaissance has an element of rebirth, but also of听recovering what has been lost," said Jones-Imhotep. He cited听Galileo Galilei听and other renaissance scientists of the 1600s. Many,听he noted,听were in essence听"renaissance engineers". They were also musicians and they听actively explored听and embraced other domains, including听art,听music and languages.

Following the discussion, engineering Professor John Orr of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, Mass., explored project-based learning.

Orr's presentation was听followed by a panel discussion featuring听Troy d'Ambrosio, director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah, and Gabriel Chan of the peer-to-peer learning platform NoteWagon.

Troy d'Ambrosio

They discussed how entrepreneurial engineers听develop听solutions to everyday problems. Both d'Ambrosio and Chan highlighted the听importance of universities in听encouraging and incubating business and engineering start ups. They highlighted that听business planning is a fundamental and integral skill for renaissance engineers. d'Ambrosio described the听experience of the University of Utah and its engineering school's effort to marry business with engineering, which resulted in creation of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah.

The day ended with a thoughtful听observation听from Lassonde. "Aspire to inspire, before you expire."

For more information, visit the website.

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The 91亚色 professor received the $10,000 prize Oct. 20 at the 2011 ceremony at the annual Mayor鈥檚 Arts Awards Lunch. More than 300 artists, business leaders, cultural professionals and community builders gathered for the event.

"I feel elated to have received this prestigious award,鈥� says Sankaran. 鈥淚t is great to be recognized in a big way.听Such recognition only encourages an artist to go even further and听enhances the quality of the artistic community as a whole."

The Toronto Arts Foundation cited as a globally respected artist, composer, educator and cultural ambassador, who consistently demonstrates mastery, creativity, ingenuity, humility and devotion. Since his professional debut at age 13, he has had a prolific international performing career, appearing as a featured musician at major music festivals and cultural events in Europe, Australia, North America and Asia, including the World Drum concerts at Expo '86 (Vancouver), Expo '88 (Brisbane) and Expo 2000 (Hanover).

Left:听Arts award winners, from left, Alan Convery of the TD Bank, 91亚色's Trichy Sankaran, Michael deConinck Smith and Deborah Lundmark of the Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, filmmaker Adam Garnet Jones and arts administrator Jane Marsland

As an active contributor to the music scene in Canada, Sankaran has also composed a dynamic body of work that bridges the musical traditions of India and the West. Collaborations include performances with new music, jazz, Western classical, world fusion and Carnatic and Hindustani musicians, such as Zakir Hussain, U. Srinivas and Hariprasad Chaurasia.听

Other finalists for the Sherrin award were pianist and music director Andrew Burashko, and singer-songwriter Rita Chiarelli.

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鈥淲e were thrilled to learn that Professor Haideh Moghissi听was a recipient of the Trudeau Fellowship prize,鈥� said 91亚色 President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. 鈥淭he Trudeau Fellowship is an incredible honour bestowed upon the finest thinkers who have demonstrated outstanding research achievements, creativity and social commitment in all disciplines of the humanities and social sciences. We are proud that one of our own is a member of this esteemed group.鈥�

Right: Haideh Moghissi (left) with 91亚色 President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri at the Trudeau Fellowship ceremony

After a prolific career in Iran as an archivist, Moghissi became an internationally acclaimed analyst of women鈥檚 issues in the Muslim world. The Fellowship prize recognizes her work in this area.

鈥淓ven though I have had the good fortune of receiving several large research grants in the last decade or so, the Trudeau Fellowship has special significance as it reflects a recognition of my academic and community-related research in the areas that are also the focus of the Trudeau Foundation, including human rights and dignity, and responsible citizenship,鈥� said Moghissi.

Moghissi, a professor in the Department of Equity Studies and the School of Women's Studies,听Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, was one of announced Monday at a ceremony at 91亚色, including听91亚色 alumnus Ronald Rudin (MA 鈥�73, PhD 鈥�77) of Concordia University.

Left: Haideh Moghissi (left) with Martin Singer, dean of 91亚色's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies

鈥淢y academic work has always had a specific audience and specific purpose in mind, hoping to contribute, in the most modest way, to change in areas that need change, be it in my country of birth, Iran, or in Canada, the country that I now call home,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he fellowship will help me to continue my work, providing more opportunity to explore the complexities and nuances of such issues as multiculturalism, minority rights and belonging, under the present, rapidly changing political and social circumstance.鈥�

Each prize is worth $225,000. Trudeau Fellowships are awarded to individuals who set themselves apart through research achievements, creativity and commitment to critical social issues of importance to Canada.

鈥淭he fellowship will provide more opportunity for organizing and attending academic gatherings to learn from and exchange ideas with others who work in these and similar areas, to provide support to a few more graduate students as future scholars,鈥� Moghissi said.

Right: Guests watch as each of the Trudeau Fellowship recipients听are honoured at听a ceremony held听in the Shulich private听dining room at 91亚色

A Canadian institution with a national purpose, the is an independent and non-partisan charity. It was established in 2001 as a living memorial to the former prime minister by his family, friends and colleagues. In 2002, the Government of Canada endowed the foundation with a donation of $125 million following a unanimous vote in the House of Commons. In addition, the foundation benefits from private sector donations in support of specific initiatives. Through its scholarship, fellowship, mentorship and public interaction programs, the foundation supports outstanding individuals who make meaningful contributions to critical public issues.听

More about Haideh Moghissi

A professor of sociology and women's studies at 91亚色,听Moghissi听was a founder of the Iranian National Union of Women and member of its first executive and editorial boards, before leaving Iran in 1984.
听
At 91亚色 she has served as associate dean external relations in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies; coordinator听of the听Certificate for Anti-Racist Research and Practice; chair of the executive committee of the Centre for Feminist Research; and as a member of the executive committee of the Centre for Refugee Studies.听

Over the course of her career Moghissi听has served as a commentator on Iran and women in the Middle East on CBC, TVO, the BBC World Service, Radio France and Voice of America, and on the editorial and advisory boards of The Journal of Comparative Public Policy, the Rutledge Women and Politics Series, Resources for Feminist Research and Feminist Forum.

Her publications in English includes seven monographs and edited volumes and 35 articles in books听and journals such as Feminist Theory, Signs, Monthly Review, Humanity and Sociology, Third World Quarterly, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Socialist Register, Global Dialogue, Comparative Family Studies and International Review of Comparative Public Policy.

Her book听Feminism and Islamic Fundamentalism: The Limits of Postmodern Analysis (Oxford University Press, 2000 and Zed Press, 1999), winner of Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award, has been translated into Korean and Indonesian.

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