On the evening of June 1, I went to the contemporary art festival “Nuit Blanche. I went to “Nuit Blanche” (meaning “White Night” or “Sleepless Night”), a contemporary art festival held on the first Saturday in October. This event, which began in 2002 as the brainchild of former Paris Mayor Delannoye, used to be held on the first Saturday in October, but last year it was moved to the first Saturday in June.
All over Paris, you can experience contemporary art in the form of sound and video installations, dance and other performances, and various exhibitions. All are free of charge. The hours are from around 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., and nearly one million people participate in this major event.
Sometimes public transportation was free until the morning, but this year Velib, a bike rental service provided by the City of Paris, was free for 90 minutes.
First, we went to the MAIF Social Club, a cultural facility in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris, which opened in 2017 and usually hosts free contemporary art exhibitions and workshops.
This was my first time here, and in addition to the exhibition space, there were books and toys for children and a café selling products from Sain, a bakery that is very popular among health-conscious people.
As for the event prepared for Nuit Blanche, we experienced an installation concept in which visitors lie down in a room covered with rock-shaped cushions and listen to nature sounds and other sounds played through headphones to regain their perception and emotions. However, all of the headphones were broken, which upset the staff (laugh). However, after lying in the dimly lit room for 15 minutes listening to the nature sounds and electronic music from the stereo, I found it unexpectedly relaxing.
The next stop was the Picasso Museum. The crowd was quite large since the museum was free to enter on this day. The collection of Picasso’s works is huge, with over 5,000 pieces, and you can follow his life through the collection. I wanted to take my time, but there was no exhibit for Nuit Blanche, so I moved on to the next one.
I arrived at a photography museum called the Henri Cartier-Bresson Foundation. There was an exhibition of landscapes photographed by American photographer Stephen Shore from a car window and from a drone. I was completely absorbed in the exhibition, despite the fact that these were ordinary scenes from the past and present.
We arrived at the Paris Crafts Museum. Various French inventions are on display here, and on Nuit Blanche day, only part of the first floor was open to the public free of charge. The most eye-catching exhibits include an airplane made by Breguet in 1911 and an actual Foucault pendulum, both of which have caught my attention time and time again.
A special exhibit for Nuit Blanche was an installation called “L’oeil du Soleil” (Eye of the Sun). It was a fantastical installation in which visitors were followed by a giant eyeball floating in a dimly lit building that used to be a church.
The last stop was the Gete Lyric, a digital art museum. Formerly a theater, the museum featured a video installation that used an entire wall. The content was about a herd of deer rebelling against a pack of dogs that were chasing them, and the audience sat, lay down, and drank as they leisurely watched the video installation.
It was a cold night for June, so this year I focused on events within walking distance of my house. However, Nuit Blanche also has great live events such as contemporary dance and live music, so I hope to see those again next time.
Nuit Blanche is not only held in Paris, but also in many other towns in France and abroad. This year’s event, with a budget of 1.65 million euros, 250,000 euros more than last year, is an opportunity for citizens to experience contemporary art in a casual way. I hope it continues in the future.
© Source travel watch
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