Nuit Blanche literally means White Night, and is an annual all-night or night-time arts festival started in Nantes France with a concept by Jean Blaise in 1984. In 1989 the Helsinki Festival started its Night of the Arts. That year, Jean-Marc Ayrault became the mayor of Nantes and his program included renovating the central part of the city. This led Blaise to create a late-night cultural festival called "Les Allumées" ("The Lighted Up"). His concept was to have an arts festival in Nantes from 6 pm till 6am annually over six years with artists from six cities: Barcelona, St. Petersburg, Buenos Aires, Naples, Cairo, Havana. Since then, Nuit Blanche has spread to many other cities around the world.
The Wonder Bread Factory in the Shaw neighborhood of DC was renovated by the Douglas Development Corporation. The four floors of this venue was put to good use for this Nuit Blanche event, which was free to attend. There were lines wrapping around the block, and it's estimated that 11,000 people passed through this event, when all was said and done.
There were works by local and international artists which included the visual arts, digital arts, performing arts, and live music. I dropped by Nuit Blanche to take pictures for Art Soiree. I only covered the event for about 90 minutes, and wish I could have stayed longer to explore more. Here's a list of what was featured at Nuit Blanche DC:
++++ 1ST FLOOR ++++
8pm - Luthea Salom
9pm - Djesben (“JESS-ben”)
10pm - The Bitter Dose Combo
11pm - Cyrus Reel
12am - Bonnie Rash
1am - 3am - DJ Adrian Loving
LIVE GRAFFITI by:
Brendan Martinez
Sebastien Reani
Michael Hammond
Aniekan Udofia
++++ 2ND FLOOR ++++
Vian Shamounki Borchert
Nadia Janjua
Nathan Wright
Carl "Eugi" Hall
Deborah Saks
Darlene Towson
Samantha Tranfa
Olesya Barsukova-Bakar
Nena Depaz
Nancy Flores
Rajan
Duly Noted
Sean Robinson/ Treble Abstrackt
Maria Cristina Belaval
Ash Hussein
Makxim Lyubimov
Katya Krupko
Maria Briskman
Margrét Kröyer
Las Calles Hablan (Mapping Barcelona Public Art)
Live graffiti by Balu 9-10 pm
MUSIC by
DJ FOTIFO
Joe Brotherton (trumpet)
Pete Muldoon (guitar)
Brian Falkowski (sax)
++++ 3RD FLOOR ++++
Adam Kinner: I'm Faking It
Dago Cassandra: Marc Desmare & Didier Borra
[capsaicin]
Branden Hall
Zachary Borovay
Sean Kenny
James Mallos
Michael Auger
Video Installation UNTITLED MIND (multilayered mapped projection design conceived as a short film video dance piece) by Laia Cabrera in collaboration with Catherine Correa and Isabelle Duverger.
MORE
Silent Disco by Silent Events
++++ BASEMENT ++++
7-9pm - v:shal kanwar / DJ Set
9-10:30pm - Jett Chandon / DJ Set
10:30-12am - Brendon Moeller/Hybrid Hardware & DJ Set
12-1:30am - B.Bravo / Hybrid Hardware and DJ Set
1:30-3am - Team Zapata/ DJ Set
Mettabbana & DJ BEATrix
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More photos on my Vithaya Photography Facebook Page.
Nuit Blanche was one of 10 venues included in the Art All Night DC 2013 Festival, presented by Shaw Main Streets and sponsored by Douglas Development Corporation, the DC Department of Small and Local Business Development, and DC Main Streets. This event was funded in part by the DC Commission on the Arts & Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. Thanks to all for your involvement and participation in creating an amazing experience for the senses and keeping the creative arts alive.
