"It's very colourful," Canadian Light Source promises on eve of Nuit Blanche

Nuit Blanche, by its very nature, owes much to the balance between light and dark.

The second Nuit Blanche celebration of art and culture will take over 20th Street West in Saskatoon on Saturday night, exploring the theme of interstitial spaces; the undefined spaces between things, roles, concepts, opposites (light and dark).

The Canadian Light Source (CLS) will be there, filling the space between childhood dreams and the reality of doing high end research using the synchrotron.

"I would have killed for this opportunity," said director of science Dean Chapman.

Chapman was a guest today on CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning.

Chapman hopes budding young scientists will be electrified by the CLS contribution to Nuit Blanche, a large, flashy, artistic, interactive model of the synchrotron.  

"It's very colourful, it's very big," he said. "It shows a little bit about how we make light."

The goal is to inform and enlighten. But at the same time, Chapman recognizes that not everyone at this totally hip nighttime art event will be a budding young scientist. So, he said, they've made sure their display will also be fun.

"There is four beam lines, somewhat stylized, showing a little bit about what we can do. And there is one where you can play with it some, we also have some things called diffraction glasses, way cool."

Diffraction glasses, by the way, are used in research at the synchrotron. They are also quite popular in rave culture, because they offer a trippy kaleidoscope rainbow view of the light.

The CLS installation is just one of the many sites to see at Nuit Blanche.

Click here for all the details on the Saskatoon festival.