If you had told me last year that I would experience two Nuit Blanches in a row in Paris, I would have told you that you were crazy. Yet here we are.
Nuit Blanche (White Night) is an all-night arts festival that occurs all around the city. It’s one of many around the world, the original held in Helsinki in 1989, used as a night to celebrate art in all forms- music, art installations, performance art, etc. Many of the museums and art galleries are open late, and it seems as if the whole city is awake and vibrant through the night.
Neither of my Nuit Blanche experiences, however, contained much art. After seeing very little last year, I expected that we would stay close to the city center and scout out art installations there, but found myself and my friends at an outdoor bar/club overlooking the river far from where we had started. It was a long walk home, one I thankfully did not have to make on my own, and while the whole weekend was essentially devoid of the main thing we had gone out to see, it was lovely to spend some time bonding with new friends, whether that meant while walking home on a chilly night or watching hours of Alias because we couldn’t be arsed to get up and go anywhere.
Have you been to a White Night/Night of the Arts festival? What was your experience?
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