"Nuit Blanche (literally White Night, All-Nighter or Sleepless Night in French) is an annual all-night or night-time arts festival... A Nuit Blanche will typically have museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the city itself being turned into a de facto art gallery, providing space for art installations, performances (music, film, dance, performance art), themed social gatherings, and other activities."
There were over 100 different exhibitions - installations, performances, videos, etc - all around Paris, many of which were open until 6 or 7 am. I went with two friends at around 9pm, then they got tired and went home at around 1:30, and I stayed until around 3:30 before finally getting tired too and heading home. I had no idea what the event was or how huge it was when we first went to check it out - if I had known I would have taken a nap during the day and stayed all night! As it was, I had an amazing time and it was very fascinating. There were some odd things, fun things, beautiful things.... so many different artistic visions all spread out within the beautiful context of Paris. It was wonderful.
The city was divided into three sections - ouest, centre, est (west, center, east). We started out on the west, the section with the fewest exhibits and went through that area first. A lot of the things there were very.... I'll say surreal.
The top left was a video installation, it was the first place we stopped, so I still wasn't completely sure what the event was about.
The top right was a video. It was interesting, in the sense that I did not understand at all what the meaning was behind it. It actually made me feel slightly uncomfortable, so if that's what the artist's aim was, he succeeded.
The bottom left exhibit actually was not the large statue you see on the left, but the chandelier on the right. The chandelier was being turned on and off rapidly and with varying timing. It was very disorienting, which I think was the purpose, and rather interesting.
The bottom right was an exhibit you could only see from the outside, it was an empty flat with chandeliers inside swinging back and forth. It was creepy and unsettling, but rather interesting as well.
Above is the outside of the Hôtel de Ville, it says "love differences" in a number of different languages. A lovely message if I do say so myself.
Next was the Notre Dame. It was beautiful to see the inside at night. There was organ music playing and at the front there was a very subtle light show. You can see the light in the picture on the right above - it would get slightly brighter and slightly dimmer very slowly. It was beautiful.
We then crossed the Pont Saint-Louis and saw the above installation on the bridge. It was really cool, there was music playing (kind of techno/electronic type music), and the blocks would change colors and the light would change intensity and there would be different patterns... It was a really fun, energetic installation.
Next we saw the installation video above. It was four large screens with videos of wild horses and their environment. It was really neat because this was actually outside - it would have still been interesting inside, but I think being outside really added something to the experience.
The church above was next door, and was open for Nuit Blanche so we went in and enjoyed a bit of music and the wonderful environment. After this I parted ways with my friends so they could go to bed and ventured off on my own.
First, there was a dinosaur and an elephant, like you would find in a museum, outside in a courtyard.
Then I found these two different things that you see above. I'm not even sure if it they were part of Nuit Blanche. They weren't on the map, and I suppose someone could have just been building a fort, and there could have been a horrible accident, but other people were taking pictures as well so I assumed they were exhibits.
Next I went to an installation with 300 clock-radios. When I originally saw it on the map I thought it was going to be a bit cheesy, but it actually ended up being quite powerful. It was presented very well and it was very interesting. The picture on the left above is how you experienced the exhibit - in pitch black darkness with only the light of the clocks. The picture on the right above was a picture taken with the flash on (don't judge me everyone was doing it).
The next stop was quite interesting as well. This was a projection video that was outside on a small back street. There was sound along with the projection, and it actually took up the majority of the block. It was really interesting, and having it in that setting was very neat.
The next place I went was to a performance in a church. Above is a picture that I took, but it can't even come close to capturing the experience. There was a woman singing along with a man playing a saxophone and a man playing the drums. At the same time there was a light projected all over the church, and on the light was something that looked like different liquids moving and being smeared around. It really was an experience that is hard to describe, it was very very interesting.
Two of the last things I saw both incorporated video of the crowd. The picture on the left is a very odd, large... I'll say statue. It was rotating around on a pedestal and had a camera on the front that would project what it saw out of the back of it. The picture on the right was a fun exhibit. The crowd was reflected on the screens, but only about two seconds of video captured probably every ten seconds. Each time a new video was added it was put in front of the old video, so it was this layered reflection of the crowd. If that explanation even makes sense! It was fun, a lot of people were being goofy and enjoying the exhibit.
I wandered around a bit more after that and then decided to head home because I was tired. There were a few metros and special buses running for Nuit Blanche, so I took a metro and then a night bus (an experience in and of itself) and got home around 4am and headed to sleep. All in all it was an amazing night!
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