2016 Paris White Night – "Crossing and Love"

Text and photos by Chen Chi-Hsiang. The Paris White Night, themed "Crossing and Love," has entered its 15th year, becoming the grandest city-wide autumn celebration—a contemporary art festival where the entire city mobilizes for a crazy night. Mayor Anne Hidalgo stated: "This event has become part of Paris's cultural heritage, considering not only the position of contemporary art in public spaces but also involving encounters among many citizens, especially the younger generation." Today, this White Night has evolved into a global all-night gathering for contemporary art in major cities. We are delighted that Taipei is hosting its inaugural White Night this year; soon, the entire Taipei metropolitan area will be infected by this unexpected contemporary art spectacle. The White Night popularizes contemporary art, making it accessible and enjoyable, calling upon all citizens to experience aesthetics and awareness through art, and further allowing us to view and discover extraordinary urban landscapes from a nocturnal perspective.

Curated by Jean de Loisy, President of the Palais de Tokyo, this year's White Night says: "We hope to gather fans of the White Night to celebrate with artists, creating a story about beauty, mystery, and love." The event is structured along the gentle curves of the Seine River, its bridges, and both banks, starting from the Arcole Bridge (crossing City Hall and Notre-Dame) in the heart of Paris, extending along the river to Île Saint-Germain in Issy-les-Moulineaux on the outskirts (home to a large Dubuffet sculpture). Notably, participants this year were exclusively French and European artists, including many mid-to-young contemporary creators such as sculptor Alain Séchas, body action performer Abraham Poincheval, comic video artist Nicolas Buffe, object installation artist Stéphane Thidet, digital image spatial installation artist Migue Chevalier, image spatial installation artist Pierre delavie, action performer Fabrice Hyber, performance artists Jean-Marc Ferrari & Estelle Delesalle, Dutch video artist Erwin Olaf, British-Indian artist Anish Kapoor, and Swiss multimedia artist Alain Fleischer, among others. Exhibited works included objects, digital images, videos, and multimedia spatial installations.