We went out to an all-night art festival last Saturday night. It's called La Nuit Blanche (White Night) because it stays open all night. We were out around midnight and the lines stretched around the block, even though it was raining and cold. It was kind of cool to see so many people excited about it.
Our first stop was Gare d'Austerlitz. It was cool and windy outside, and threatening to rain at any minute. After a half-hour wait in a long line that moved quickly, we made it inside the Austerlitz train station. Spanish artist Pablo Valbuena had taken over platform 7 as a canvas for one of his famous lighting events. So, there was a train platform, indoors, over a quarter of a mile long, with no tracks yet.
The videos below are only 30 seconds or so - not a big investment of time...and definitely worth it! The best way to watch these is to click the Youtube link in the lower right of the video here. Once you're in youtube, click the change quality to max HD, and click the maximize icon also in the lower right corner. This will give you a nice full-screen high-def view.
First quick video...
The big one... the loud clicking noises you're hearing are from the light switches as they go on and off.
The exit was on the other end of the tracks, so once we walked down that way, we turned around and saw it from the opposite perspective. Maybe even better this way!
Below is a link to some of the other art we tried to see, but got impatient with the huge lines... the one with the guy drawing labyrinths with salt was my next choice. But, the line at the Hotel De Ville was unbelievable, and it was already midnight. Some of the other attractions are more long-term, so I hope we get to see some of them.
http://www.timeout.com/paris/en/art/nuit-blanche-artworks
For a different type of Parisian light show, check out the July 14th fireworks at the Eiffel Tower.
And now, a year later, I have photos from La Nuit Blanche Paris 2015.
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