While there was some confusion over what the actual name of the nighttime celebration was (Nuit Blanche apparently, ladies and gentlemen), the certainty was that the city of Paris had set up some random stuff to be open from 7pm to 7am on Saturday, October 2nd, including various museums/clubs/restaurants/stores/outdoor settings/churches/all other things Parisian to showcase modern art. Therefore, me, the Parisians, some tourists and what seemed to be a fair amount of drunken teens were all curious.
Take the picture below, for example. First, please excuse the pictures. I had my camera, but being the genius I am, I forgot to put my battery in the camera. Oops. So these were taken with my phone. Anyway, the bridge on the Cité island to the St Louis ile had been under what I had assumed was basic maintenance and construction for about 3 weeks when I heard about this little celebration. I was indeed wrong, yet again in France, and found out it was for a one-night-only art installation and that the entire city was under the same construction for weeks leading up to this one night party.
Truth be told, I’m not that into Modern Art. I feel like most of it I could re-create, put a spin on the “inspiration” and be considered an Artist. This was not one of those. This was technical, mathematical, musical, and so interesting. A huge metal structure divided into cubes, wrapped in netting, spanned the entire bridge. Then lights outlined, traced, lit up and in general completely dazzled these cubes. Accompanying the show was some Paris electronica club music that beat in time with the music. How does one create, let alone set this up? I have no clue. But it was pretty cool.
I tried to check out a few different installations, but due to the crowds of drunken teens (they are taking over Paris, I swear. And yes, I sound like an old lady…the youth of today…), I only saw this one. But if I were to see anything, this was certainly a keeper. This massive crowd behind me agreed that this was something you should see.
To see the cubes in action, I took a video with my camera. Now I have no clue how to upload said video, but that’s ok because I also can’t rotate it clockwise so that you won’t have to turn your head to see it. So, come to Paris and I will show you my video on my phone. Its a good deal, I promise.