Last Saturday’s Shanghai Scooters reception was a lesson in how temperature affects art openings. August openings are perilous anywhere, with vacations and outdoor fun reducing the crowds. But Southern Ontario’s notoriously-humid late summer nights can render social butterflies into air-conditioning junkies.
Despite NAC’s efforts to get a breeze going, there was no way around the fact that spotlit area where the art was displayed was ten degrees warmer than the unlit side of the gallery. Add a bowl of spiked punch to the cooler side of the gallery and there was little chance of anyone taking more than a quick look at the drawings. Like moths against an invisible screen door, the patrons crowded at the threshold until we shut the lights off at 11 p.m.