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Sleepless Night

05 octobre 2002
01m 54s
Ref. 00309

Information

Summary :

Report on the first Sleepless Night organised in Paris, an unusual and artistic route open to the general public.

Media type :
Vidéo
Broadcast date :
05 octobre 2002
Source :
A2 (Collection: 20 heures le journal )
Personnalité(s) :
Christophe Airaud / Tim Pritlove / Jean Blaise / Pierre Henry / Béatrice Schönberg
Themes :
Places :

Context

To celebrate an urban space made over by contemporary creation through a popular meeting: such is the ambition of the "Nuit Blanche", Festival created by the Mairie de Paris in 2001.

Under the responsibility of Jean Blaise, the creator of the festival "Les Allumés" in Nantes, the first edition took place on the 5th to the 6th of October 2002 and was organised around 20 installations spread over the different quarters of the capital. Transformed by artists adept in electronic, fine or urban art, these prestigious or ordinary places, completely exposed, invited the visitor to take a different look at his daily environment, to think about it or to feel it differently. Numerous museums, monuments and galleries open for the occasion completed the line-up of this nocturnal artistic promenade. With 500,000 visitors, success was immediate and would only confirm itself over the course of the following editions: in 2006 there were three times as many squeezing into the programme's different places.

Other European (Rome, Brussels, then Madrid, Naples, Riga...) and global (Montréal in 2004, Toronto in 2006, Istanbul and Miami in 2007) cities have since taken the principle of this great popular urban festival of contemporary art.

Claire Sécail

Transcription

Béatrice Schönberg
Let's discuss this operation, the first of its kind in Paris. The "Sleepless Night" will let night owls discover numerous locations that are as unusual as they're unexpected. A journey where you'll have to keep your eyes open, from the Louvre to the funeral homes, to the skating rink, and the pools which are open all night. A free Paris by night operation, Christophe Airaud, Sylvain Dauba.
Christophe Airaud
Paris city hall, 7.00 pm, the mayor's lounges are invaded by musicians. One location, like many others, that will be open all night until six in the morning. Very chic and with champagne, it's on for a sleepless night, an artistic night of music and lights.
(Music)
Christophe Airaud
Yes indeed! It is in fact the number two tower of the National Library of France that is blinking, that is its fate tonight. With a phone call, you'll take control of the biggest video game screen in the world.
Tim Pritlove
I'm playing on the wall of the building, now its Brickbreaker. Oops! I've lost.
Christophe Airaud
A playful and mysterious atmosphere, museums, pools, and a lit industrial fallow land like in a detective novel, the sleepless night stroll will be an unusual walk towards today's art.
Jean Blaise
The sleepless night, it's a nocturnal artistic trip through Paris, we'll go from one location to another like in the snakes and ladders game, from one surprise to another. We're not in a gallery, we're not in an art centre, we can enter this location, it's totally open, it's free, it's public, it's art and freedom.
Christophe Airaud
A hundred Parisian locations will watch over their artists all night long, video projections, electronic music, rap and fashion shows, the list will be long. But if you have to have a rendez-vous somewhere, why not at Pierre Henry's requiem of contemporary music and the former Funeral Home of Paris? To hell with the place, the goal is to wander towards the unknown.