TR: "White Night" in Paris (w/pics - somewhat long with Cliff Notes)

[nyc999]

Cliff Notes at bottom

Note: I apologize in advance - some of the pics are blurry, I was taking them while moving along with the crowd.

I spent last week in Paris, and while there learned Saturday night was "Nuit Blanche", or "White Night" in Paris.
It is a night-long arts celebration/festival located in a few central neighborhoods.



The festival was centered around 50-60 art installations primarily located in the Louvre, Les Halles and Marais neighborhoods. Ranging from incredibly boring to just incredible, they included interactive installations, spoken word, art pieces and music.

The first interesting exhibit I found was between the Louvres and Jardin de Tuileries. It was a series of clay pots arranged in a circle and then lit on fire.



In particular, there was one impressive piece that was lit and hoisted near the ferris wheel.



Another fun installation was located on a bridge over the Seine. Several little televisions and blankets were spread over the bridge. People used this as an excuse to sit down and drink wine. since I only speak minimal French, I have no idea about the point of the installation.



After a few unimpressive exhibits, I stumbled across the installation below. The colors and the sound changed along with the viewer's interaction with the three screens. It kept my attention for a few minutes.





When planning the trip, I was also unaware the <u>World Cup of Rugby</u> was taking place. Coinciding with this all-night arts event was the match of France vs. the huge favorite "All-Blacks" of New Zealand. To put it in perspective, coming into the match France had not beaten NZ in 9 years.

So while people were moving from installation to installation, every bar, cafe and bistro was overflowing with people watching the game. I didn't have to watch the game to know what was happening because every 2-3 minutes you would hear loud cheering or booing emanate from the city.



I eventually wandered into the Marais neighborhood (where I was staying). Inside an old art gallery was this installation:



After walking for a few hours, I was about to call it a night (art-wise). I then stumbled upon a performance in a beautiful church. It's hard to explain it completely, but a guy with some crazy musical/light contraption and a microphone was creating very experimental music.



What he was doing was impressive and engaging. The lights (along with 6-7 projectors) created a mesmerizing light show on the ceiling of the church. I spent about 30 minutes watching, and there were a couple hundred people sitting at the floor staring up at the ceiling. It was hard to capture pics in this setting (especially with the lights constantly changing), and the below pic is the best I took:



As I exited the church, there was a roar from the city. It was obvious that France had scored the improbable upset. All of a sudden, the streets turned into a huge drunken party.






The area surrounding the Hotel De Ville was the party epicenter:



For the next hour, I was caught up in the parade of people and took it all in. I have never been part of anything so crazy. People were jumping on cars, screaming, etc.

As the night went on, I noticed the tone of the crowd was getting a little more dark. More people were drunk and crazier things started to happen. At one point, there an impromptu parade went by with about 50 people banging drums and holding up traffic. The "parade marshalls" were two dudes each with 30-foot bullwhips. They would randomly whip the street, sometimes hitting cars, and causing people to scramble out of the way. For two reasons I don't have pics of this - first, I was using the video function on my camera to have footage (which I erased by mistake, I'm still angry about my stupidity). Second, I was one of the people trying to evade the bullwhip.

At the end of my night (around 3:00 AM), me and a few people were sitting at a cafe having a beer. Around the corner, we heard a lot of screaming and yelling - enough to take notice, but not enought to be worried (considering everything else that was happening). Then we started to hear police sirens.

Suddenly, we hear about 10-15 glass bottles break, followed by people running away in all directions. In my semi-drunken state, all I could think was "I need to get pictures of this."

As I fumbled for my camera, we see 4-5 cops run by in full riot gear (face masks, shields, batons, etc.). As I'm about to take a picture, I start sneezing repeatedly. Then one of my friends complains about his eyes burning. A chick at the next table starts dry heaving. We all realized the breaking bottles were actually tear gas canisters. In panic, the cafe owner runs out and screams they're closed. We get up and run away with everyone else, not even paying the bill. This was a great end to the night, as my eyes and throat were soar until around noon of the next day.

As it turns out, there was other random craziness in the city, including
people breaking into the Musee D'Orsay and damaging a Monet.

From the article:

"The break-in at the Orsay, which houses a major collection of Impressionist art, happened during a yearly all-night festival of arts and music, the White Night, when thousands of people pour into the streets.

Spirits were running particularly high late Saturday in Paris after France advanced to the semifinals of the Rugby World Cup in a closely fought victory over New Zealand."



Crazy, crazy night...





Cliff Notes: Fun art festival is electrified by France's upset victory in the Rugby World Cup. OP ends up in the wrong place at wrong time and ultimately gets tear-gassed by the Paris police.

[egocidal]

saw "in paris" in title, got excited

am dissapointed.

[guids]

Did they have any light installations, using modified projectors? or throwies?

[nyc999]

[ QUOTE ]
Did they have any light installations, using modified projectors? or throwies?

[/ QUOTE ]

I did not see any throwies. I'm not actually sure what light from a modified projector would look like. In total, I saw about 15 of the installations/exhibits.

[NT!]

nice TR, even if it lacks celebutante penetration

[gobbomom]

I had read about the Monet. Interesting to read a first hand account of the events that surrounded it's defacement.
Also, the churches in France are amazing.

[Kimbell175113]

This is great, OP. Thanks for taking the time to write it up.

[basementproject]

The same thing just happened in Toronto, as well. Same name and concept. I'm assuming the original idea came from France though.

Either way, it was very cool.

[AK Fisher]

Cool trip report. I love that city . There is always something cool to do.

[calcbandit]

My friends and I drove up to Toronto for this. It was awesome seeing so many people out and about at 3 in the morning. The streets were literally packed all night.

[ QUOTE ]
The same thing just happened in Toronto, as well. Same name and concept. I'm assuming the original idea came from France though.

Either way, it was very cool.

[/ QUOTE ]