I went looking for the origin story of Nuit Blanche. The usual online search results did not satisfy, so I logged into my university library to get at the journal databases, just to verify (am down with the peer-reviewed research, how could I not be?). The search engines and the virtual library stacks both led me to the 1989 Helsinki Night of the Arts as a first for all-night arts festivals and then, to Paris in 2002, for the first event under the “Nuit Blanche” banner.
This weekend, Montréal will be host to Nuit Blanche. The event was first held here in 2004 as part of Montréal en lumière, which began in 2000. Various cities in Canada are or have been host to Nuit Blanche, including (going across the map, from west to east): Whitehorse, Kelowna, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Toronto and Ottawa. In the Maritime provinces, there are also all-night celebrations of the arts, by other names such as Nocturne Halifax, Third Shift (Saint John) and Art in the Open (Charlottetown).
As for my list for Nuit Blanche in Montréal this year (so much on offer, check out the program):
— Nuit Blanche at VOX: Art & Type – Because I can never resist an art exhibit about typography.
— Alt-Escape – Described as a performance that “immerses you in a sequence of interactive visual and auditory universes … exploring the concepts of gravity, physics, and time.” Yes, please.
— 24 Hours of Vinyl – A vinyl marathon born in 2011, from the hearts and minds of the Music Is My Sanctuary collective, this is always one of my favourite Nuit Blanche events in Montréal, being held again this year at the Société des arts technologiques (SAT).
So … I raise a glass to all-night celebrations of the arts … to the people who make them happen and to everyone who ventures out into the night to be part of them …
P.S. I took the photo above at Nuit Blanche in Toronto in 2013 (the event there is held in October). The exhibit pictured is WATERMARK Cubed, 2013, adapted from the award-winning documentary film by Edward Burtynsky, Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier.
a few words ... from Montréal 