Saturday June 3rd: Nuit Blanche opens the cultural festival season in Paris putting the spotlight on the Seine

Dear Shaded Viewers,

“For this 2023 edition, I seek to amaze, incite, amuse and disorient the public, always with an eclectic, demanding and popular vision.”

Kitty Harti, Artistic Director of Nuit Blanche 2023

Kitty Harti is the Artistic Director of Nuit Blanche for the second time honouring the Seine which will host celebrations and competitions during the Paris 2024 olympic and paralympic games. From Paris to the Havre to  Rouen and 24 communes of the greater paris metropolis, the seine becomes the imaginary thread along which visitors discover a new artistic universe on the occasion of this first summer edition.

The carte blanche of Kitty Hartl will include:

Street Opera/Opera River by Mauro Gioia and Kitty Hartl- the collaboration between the Italian singer Mauro Gioia and Kitty Hartl constitutes of two performances around the opera. Street Opera, singers from the National Opera of Paris and the students of the municipal conservatoire Charles Munch, produced on the Seine, Opera River, is an homage to the film by Werner Herzog Fitzcarraldo involves the Basin of the Arsenal and Parisian canals. Gramophones aboard chinese-dragon boats and venitian gondolas will do 78 tours of legendary performers from the early 20th century.

Playsack by Fredun Shapur, in collaboration with Mira Shapur is destined to a young public and their families. Children between the ages of 6-10 will discover paper costumes created by the british designer Fredun Shapur. The costumes will be in the form of animals that are a re-edition from the 1960’s. A jungle will be created in the square in front of Hotel de Ville before multiplying throughout Paris.

Geometric resonance by Javier Riera -A monumental light projection conceived by the spanish artist Javier Riera will transform nature in the city with its remarkable geometrical forms.The Land Art artist Javier Riera will reveal the sculptural dimension of trees and give another vision to the heart of Paris by taking over Vert-Galant square of the Ile de la Cite.

There will be many other installations, performances throughout the greater Pairs metropolis and boat rides with performances going up the Seine.

Kitty Hartl is a French-American curator and artistic director who has organized numerous cultural events in France and around the world. She has worked for many prestigious institutions, including the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago.

In addition to her work on Nuit Blanche, Hartl has organized other large-scale public art events, including the Lyon Light Festival and the “Paysages” festival in Normandy. Her programming often includes a mix of established and emerging artists from a range of different disciplines, including visual art, performance, music, and dance.

Hartl is known for her innovative and collaborative approach to curating, and for her commitment to bringing art out of traditional institutional spaces and into the public realm.

Nuit Blanche is an annual all-night art event that takes place in Paris and other cities around the world. The event was first created in Paris in 2002 by the then-mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delanoë, as a way to showcase contemporary art in public spaces and encourage Parisians to explore their city at night.

The first Nuit Blanche took place on October 5, 2002, and featured a range of contemporary art installations, performances, and other events throughout the city. The event was an immediate success, drawing large crowds of people who stayed up all night to experience the art and the city in a new way.

Since then, Nuit Blanche has become an annual tradition in Paris, taking place on the first Saturday in October. The event has grown in size and scope over the years, with more and more artists and cultural organizations participating each year. In addition to Paris, Nuit Blanche events now take place in cities around the world, including Brussels, Madrid, Toronto, and Buenos Aires.

Nuit Blanche has become an important part of Parisian cultural life, and is seen as an opportunity for artists to experiment with new forms and engage with audiences in new ways. The event has also helped to transform the city’s public spaces, turning them into sites for artistic intervention and cultural exchange.

Later,

Diane

mm
Diane Pernet

A LEGENDARY FIGURE IN FASHION and a pioneer of blogging, Diane is a respected journalist, critic, curator and talent-hunter based in Paris. During her prolific career, she designed her own successful brand in New York, costume designer, photographer, and filmmaker.

SHARE