Bring on the Night

In conjunction with a recently released film of the same name, Savedbythebelles.com is an organic and artistic online expression of Montreal's nightlife. Modelled on the human mind, the site provides apparently endless navigational paths that drift along tangents and take sudden detours according to the user's choices. Every choice subtly alters the interface and mood of the site, causing different memories to bubble up. More than 50 Montreal artists are represented in a variety of digital works exploring themes around memory, amnesia, night, sex and identity. The interactive works include a confessional and flying dreams repository. On my first visit, a strong food theme was apparent and much of the site was almost unbearably slow - which I attribute to my own hunger and that it was early morning in Montreal; as the site (and the film) will tell you, night is when the action happens. - Helen Varley Jamieson.