Winnipeg ghost signs to be brought 'back to life' in Nuit Blanche light installation

A Winnipeg ghost sign light display is one of more than 85 installations to be showcased at the city's annual contemporary art show starting Saturday night.

Nuit Blanche 2023 will feature an installation that uses light to re-createtwoold, layered signs painted on a building in Winnipeg's downtown, bringing back to life the faded designs and lettering.

Portland-based artist Craig Winslow collaborated with local ghost sign researcher Matt Cohen to create a display atop of thePorter and Company and Milady Chocolates ads, located at 165 McDermot Ave. in Winnipeg's Exchange District.

"We have a really unique opportunity to highlight these multiple layers that we can sort of discern and see," Winslow said on CBC's Up to Speed on Friday.

"For me that's the favourite, like, excitement is being able to pull one that you can barely see back to life and into the present view."

This year's installation, part of his ongoing project called Light Capsules, will be the city's second permanent display, and is expected to last until 2030.

"Winnipeg is truly unique, and the density of these ghost signs that are in the Exchange [District] particularly where you can within three blocks, see more than a dozen or two dozen," he said.

The designer had also previously teamed up with Cohen to create ghost sign light displays in Winnipeg in 2017.

"This is like the passion project is like using that skill set to revive history in an exciting way," said Winslow.

CMHRdisplays

Also part of this year's Nuit Blanche are three installations at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, which is participating in the festivities for the first time ever.

An four-metre-tall-by-10-metre-wide display will be shown at the museum's group entrance, a band of six musicians complete with a projectionist will put on a show inside Buhler Hall, and musicians will also be performing as visitors leave the building.

"We have everything from small artists opening up their studio to major activations by our partners,"said Kurt Tittlemier, general manager of Culture Days Manitoba, which organizes Nuit Blanche.

The Winnipeg Art Gallery will also be participating by throwing a street party at the corner of Memorial Boulevard and St. Mary Avenue, Tittlemier said.

Meanwhile, the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre will host 12 separate events of its own.

"It's going to be a lot of fun," said Tittlemier.