Nuit Blanche 2021: what does the 20th edition of the Parisian event have in store for us?

Initiated in 2002 by the City of Paris, the Nuit Blanche brings together performances, installations and exhibitions throughout the capital for one night, at the beginning of autumn . This annual cultural event has become, over the years, an unmissable event in the lives of Parisians. Like every first weekend in October, museums, theatres and concert halls open their doors to young and old alike, offering a vast programme – two hundred events – completely free of charge. Four years before the launch of the Olympic Games in 202, this twentieth edition, conceived by the director of the Carreau du Temple Sabrina Martins and the choreographer Mourad Merzouki, weaves links between sport and art.

Through several exhibitions, young contemporary visual artists will be honored in the four corners of the capital. In parallel with its exhibitions devoted to Anni and Josef Albers and ceramics, the Museum of Modern Art will open on this night An exhibition dedicated to five young artists winners of the second edition of the 1% of the art market grant, organised each year by the city of Paris to support young visual artists. Called Les Envoûtés, the exhibition will enchant with the deployment of a metaphorical world embodied by the works of the photographer Clarisse Hahn, the painter Kubra Khademi and the sculptor Jean-Charles de Quillacq. As for the contemporary art fund of the City of Paris,  a major political player in terms of public support for artists, it will unveil part of its collection through a selection of twelve paintings, installations, photographs and videos exhibited in several places in the Marais, including a sculpture by Jean-Alain Corre and a sculpture by Jean-Alain Corre. a video of Kenny Dunkan at the Carreau du Temple.

A meeting place for music lovers, the Philharmonie offers an evening dedicated to eroticism. In the building built by the architect Jean Nouvel in the heart of the Parc de la Villette, musicians and dancers offer a disturbing investigation of the experience of love through atypical creations. At the Musée de la Philharmonie, musicians and dancers are lifting the taboo around the erotic dimension of music, which has long been confined to the implicte. Each room of the museum has its own programme. Between the Sonata Erotica by musician Erwin Schulhoff, the dance performances of the duo Théo Touvet and Kaori Ito and the listening sessions of the Erotic by composer Pierre Henry, it will be possible for the listener to move between each of the rooms in order to have an overall perception of this musical selection from the Philharmonie’s collections.

The Nuit Blanche also makes it a point of honour to invite connoisseurs and walkers to a selection of concerts, free for the occasion. At the Philharmonie de Paris, a meeting place for music lovers in the north-east of the city,  the Musée de la Musique will offer an evening dedicated to eroticism. In the building built by the architect Jean Nouvel, musicians and dancers will offer a disturbing investigation of the experience of love through atypical creations, lifting the taboo on the erotic dimension of music, long confined to the implicit. Each room of the museum will have its own programme. Between the Sonata Erotica by musician Erwin Schulhoff, the dance performances of the duo Théo Touvet and Kaori Ito and the listening sessions of the Erotiques by composer Pierre Henry, it will be possible for the listener to move freely in order to enjoy this musical diversity. At the Gaîté Lyrique, the audiovisual sculpture of the Visual System collective, called Détour, will offer a sound experience with the air of optical illusions on music composed by Alexandre Bouvier and Thomas Vaquié.

A special feature of this edition is that the theme of sport occupies a central place in the programme. In the heart of a stadium in the 16th arrondissement, where the France rugby team trains daily, the artist Ange Leccia will present an immersive video installation Arrangement, composed of two video screens from which thunderstorm rumblings are broadcast. The stadium, plunged into darkness, will give off a striking sound atmosphere. The 69-year-old artist will also occupy the vast space of the stadium by planting two goal goals in the middle of the pitch, undeniably reducing the playing space. Both an arena and a cocoon, the transformed stadium will invite you to a suspended experience. Meanwhile, in Clamart, the Moroccan-born artist Randa Maroufi will also explore the representations of sport in art during a night of video screenings,  dedicated between 4 and 6 p.m . to young children before opening up to an adult audience. A promising overview of the 200 or so events organized for the occasion.

Find the full programme of the Nuit Blanche 2021 on the event website.
20th Nuit Blanche, Saturday 2 October in Paris and the inner suburbs.

The Nuit Blanche, 20th edition, on Saturday, October 2, in Paris and the inner suburbs.