On Friday, April 17, from 5 p.m. to 2:30 a.m., a warehouse in Gates was brought to life by ArtAwake, a University of Rochester-sponsored event that brought together hundreds of works of art, installation pieces, live music, live dance, and hundreds of visitors.

The location was a little disenchanting when we first showed up. We'd pictured something harder to find, in the middle of nowhere, unmarked and nondescript, like a similar event that takes place in Pittsburgh. But this warehouse looked on first glance more like an old office building, marked by balloons, cars, and lights. A big yellow bus ran from UR to the venue and back.

Inside, though, it was true to form, complete with mold (or decades of dust...or asbestos, one friend suggested) that looked like art in its own incidental way. This spurred other "incidental" art sightings: a "Not an Exit" sign on a door; a hole in a wall.

We found the installation pieces the most interesting. One room was filled with rubber bands that mimicked a ferny curtain in a forest you'd have to machete your way through. Another had hundreds (thousands?) of folded squares of paper, hanging from the ceiling and littering the floor. Walk into another room and you found yourself caught amid a delicate sort of spiderweb, made of twine. Yet another was filled with colorful boxes, which the artists invited you to have your way with. They were meant to represent clichés, I think, but it was too crowded in that section's narrow hallway to read the artist's statement.

The festival had a lot going on at once. And it was a higher-end production than we anticipated. Several bands played throughout the night -- we only caught one -- and the stage was extra large, with a massive light set-up that put most clubs in this city to shame. It'll be interesting to see what's added next year, when the organizers choose another new-old location to bring to life.