Art revellers invited to "Like" Facebook page to raise $15,000 for charity

TORONTO, Sept. 26, 2011 /CNW/ - From dusk until dawn, Scotiabank Nuit Blanche night owls are invited to unleash their inner artist, and use their fingertips to paint at Scotia Plaza, where Scotiabank presents FLUXe. This 100-foot immersive and interactive art installation creates illuminated designs on a large LED screen, where users can choose from one of nine unique digital paintbrushes designed by internationally celebrated artists.

"We are thrilled to bring FLUXe to Scotiabank Nuit Blanche this year," said Duncan Hannay, Scotiabank Senior Vice-President Canadian Marketing. "FLUXe presents a unique opportunity for the public to communicate and engage with one another through Canada's largest interactive LED screen, allowing them to truly experience a unique installation on a special night."

FLUXe is the brainchild of Steve DiLorenzo, co-founder, curator and creative director of Pixel, an immersive art and technology incubator founded in 2002.

"FLUXe is based on the notion of constant change," said DiLorenzo. "Change is a fundamental reality of Toronto's urban landscape that continues to shift, grow and evolve. With Scotiabank, we invited nine international artists to create individual brushworks to celebrate this notion of change."

While FLUXe will transform Scotia Plaza during the one-night only art installation, Scotiabank is helping to bring art to the city's high needs communities all year long. For every new "Like" at facebook.com/scotiabanknuitblanchefluxe, Scotiabank will donate $1 (to a maximum of $15,000) to Arts for Children and Youth, an organization which engages young people in accessible arts educational programs that are meaningful, relevant and collaboratively developed with community and education partners.

While visiting FLUXe at Scotia Plaza on October 1, patrons can expect a completely interactive art experience to explore their inner creativity and transform the urban landscape by drawing on a Blackberry® Playbook™ Tablet using one of the nine unique brushes. Their artistic creations will then be projected in real-time onto the large LED screen.

"Through FLUXe, the public can collaborate all night long with friends or strangers on their tablets," added Hannay. Users will also be prompted to share their masterpieces online through the FLUXe Facebook gallery.

There are two ways for the public to experience FLUXe:

• The Big Screen Experience: Art revelers can access FLUXe from the Bay and Adelaide Centre courtyard and come face-to-face with the 100' x 33' LED screen suspended on the north side of Scotia Plaza. The FLUXe street team will be on site to guide users through the interaction zone.
  
  
• The Multi-Screen Experience: Also accessible from the Bay and Adelaide Centre courtyard, visitors can digitally paint artwork on a series of five 46-inch vertical LCD screens. Users will also have the option of using their own 3G touch screen-based mobile devices and tablets.

FLUXe is compatible with the following touch screen mobile devices and tablets: iPhone, Android, Blackberry Torch, iPad, Blackberry® Playbook™ Tablet.

For more information about FLUXe, visit facebook.com/scotiabanknuitblanchefluxe.

ABOUT SCOTIABANK:

Scotiabank is committed to supporting the communities in which we live and work, both in Canada and abroad, through our global philanthropic program 'Bright Future.' Recognized as a leader internationally and among Canadian corporations for our charitable donations and philanthropic activities, Scotiabank has provided on average approximately $44 million annually to community causes around the world over the last five years. Visit us at http://www.scotiabank.com

APPENDIX:

ABOUT THE CREATIVE DIRECTOR/CURATOR:

STEVE DI LORENZO
Steve Di Lorenzo is co-founder, curator and creative director of Pixel. Pixel is an art and technology incubator founded in 2002 in Canada. Pixel curates art based and commercial projects that mix grass-roots arts with new digital channels to create original interactive experiences.  http://www.facebook.com/pages/Pixel-Gallery-Toronto/23434705269

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

ZENA HOLLLOWAY
Zena Holloway was born in Bahrain in 1973 and raised in London. At 18 she travelled the globe working as a SCUBA instructor and developed a passion for underwater photography and film. Completely self-taught Zena's images are striking, instinctive and driven by a deep understanding of her medium. Zena's renowned underwater photography appears regularly for publications such as How to Spend it, GQ, The Observer Magazine, 125, Tatler and Dazed & Confused. www.Zenaholloway.com

EDUARDO RECIFE
Eduardo Recife is an artist and illustrator from Brazil. His work has a very distinct style and has been exhibited in Japan, UK, US, Denmark, Spain, Australia, Mexico, Belgium, Lithuania and Brazil. He has created commissioned works for clients such as The New York Times, HBO, The Guardian and Volkswagen.  www.misprintedtype.com / www.eduardorecife.com

LORENZO PETRANTONI
Lorenzo Petrantoni was born in Genoa in 1970. His passion for graphic design and his fascination for the 18th century are intertwined in his illustrations. He has used his art to create campaigns for prestigious brands, has worked with international magazines and has had exhibitions around the world.  www.lorenzopetrantoni.com

ERIC CHAN
Eric Chan is a hybrid artist-programmer from Canada currently living in New York. He works at the intersection of art, design and technology. He explores the creative potential of a free and open Internet by combining art with open data to create spontaneous and unexpected paintings. His most recent work was exhibited in GalleryO2 in Tokyo (2009) and at the Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) in summer 2010. http://eepmon.com/

CHRISTIAN TOTH
Christian Toth a.ka SECTR is a Canadian artist that has been exhibiting internationally for over fifteen years. Christian grew Rail Side Films into a fully functional urban-art video production company, producing a number of award winning urban art documentaries such as Reefer Madness; which won best short documentary at the Denver Film Festival. Christian co-founded Lounge37 which became one of North Americas' top urban-art web sites and eventually developed its own successful clothing line. http://www.sectrart.com/

NANAMI COWDROY
Nanami Cowdroy was born in Sydney, Australia with close bonds to her mixed Japanese-European heritage. Growing up with such contrasting cultures and surroundings influenced her art and creative expression. By intertwining complex characters and highly detailed objects, her pieces reflect a juxtaposition between foreign and familiar entities and environments. Her pieces can be seen online at www.nthread.net

HUGH ELLIOTT
In 2010, Hugh Elliott combined his obsession with film with his interest in haiku and created Moviesinhaiku. As a way of taking this new medium to new places, Hugh began doing small prints and used his previous experience as an illustrator to create background graphics. He was then tasked to create prints for movie The Social Network and collaborated with Scott Wilk to create Moviesinhaiku-themed watches. http://www.blog.wheniwas19.com

ALEX KURINA
Alex Kurina spends the majority of his time in Toronto, where he is a designer and new media artist. He holds a BFA from Ryerson University.
http://www.okak.ca/

JANICE KUN
Janice Kun is a mixed media illustrator based in Toronto. Her illustrations have appeared in magazines, albums, book covers, boards, websites, and messy sketchpads. Passionate about fiction, photography, street art, and music, her illustrations draw from the texture and rhythmic energy of these media. She threads digital layers onto photographs and hand drawn elements, weaving a distinctive style of mixed media digital work. She is represented by i2i Art Inc. www.i2iart.com/Janice_Kun

GRAHAM MILLER
Graham Miller is a Toronto-based sound designer, electronic music producer and performer. In 2005, he graduated with an M.A. in Ethnomusicology from York University, where he studied the idea of 'futurism' in sound by uncovering a hidden relationship between cinematic sound design in science fiction filmmaking and compositional techniques in techno music production. http://www.intrepidtravellermusic.com/