Nuit Blanche 2012
Coming up on Saturday is this year’s edition of the city’s all-night arty party La Nuit Blanche. Artistic director Laurent le Bon, director of the Centre Pompidou-Metz, has focused his program along the Seine (West, Centre & East), whose riverbanks will be closed to traffic, but open to strollers. Contemporary, eclectic, scientific and festive, Nuit Blanche 2012 features nearly a hundred projects, promising to be particularly luxuriant, with a focus on interdisciplinarity. The artists selected are a mix of recognized and emerging artists from all generations and all nationalities, most of whom dwell in Greater Paris – as a tribute to Paris cosmopolitanism. Some highlights include: the Ripoulain Brothers hang cars from the cranes at les Halles to create a Calder-like monumental mobile, Adalberto Mecarelli has a half-moon rise behind Saint Eustache church. At Concorde, Julio Le Parc wraps the obelisk in a suit of lights. At the city hall of the 4th arrondissement, Michel Blazy spills a thick, white foam on the ground as an allegory of the abuses of our consumer society. On the Seine Group F’s pyrotechnic display randomly drifts with the stream and illuminates the landscapes it explores. Along the riverbanks, a selection of words chosen by ORLAN are projected. At Austerlitz station, a post-apocalyptic live video set by Tania Mouraud, Camille Henrot’s video installation sets the myth of Frankenstein free from its yoke, and an enchanting concert by Chapelier Fou. Christian Marclay’s “The Clock” is projected at Chaillot National Theatre. The Alexander III bridge will provide the setting for Pierre Leguillon’s video installation, or Freyssinet Hall will feature Malachi Farrell’s highly sophisticated mechanic installation. And Laurent Grasso’s oxymoron “Sun into the night” illuminates the roof of the Samaritaine, to make us take a fresh look at things. Belvederes, municipal observation posts usually closed to the public, will also be accessible, providing new perspectives over the city. Download a PDF of the complete program on the website; get the free App; and check the map.
Sat 6 Oct, 7pm-7am.
nuitblanche.paris.fr/