Nuit Blanche brings a night of art to Taipei’s Yuanshan

Taipei’s 11th Nuit Blanche arts festival wrapped up early yesterday morning following a night of art installations, interactive performances and live music across the city’s Yuanshan (圓山) area.

The overnight event, which ran from 2pm on Saturday until 2am yesterday, was co-organized by the Taipei City Department of Cultural Affairs and the French Office in Taipei, in collaboration with the Centquatre-Paris.

This year’s festival featured more than 30 art installations and 50 performances and sound art programs across Tatung University, Yuanshan Natural Landscape Park, the Yuanshan and Xinsheng (新生) areas of Taipei Expo Park, and areas near Minzu East Road and Qingguang Market (晴光市場).

A man poses for a photo with Ma Mu-en’s piece 24/7 at Nuit Blanche Taipei on Saturday night.

Photo: Chiang Ying-ying, AP

Among the featured works was Blackcat and Nagashi in Midnight 1972, an interactive theater production that invited audience members to take on the role of employees at a 1970s hot spring hotel investigating a long-standing mystery.

At FreeS Art Space, the artist Chuang Pei-xin (莊培鑫) presented The Method of Entry, an installation using 3D scanning to transform physical bodies into digital models.

The work explored the boundaries between exhibition spaces, offices and theaters, with music and movement transforming the space as night fell, organizers said.

The festival also featured a street dance block party, where dancers took part in open freestyle sessions before competing in a Top 8 battle. Audience members voted for the night’s most outstanding performer, with cash prizes of NT$10,000 for the battle champion and NT$5,000 for the audience-selected Most Valuable Player.

Nuit Blanche originated in Paris 25 years ago, with Taiwan adopting the event 11 years ago, French Office in Taipei Director Frederic Laplanche told a news conference on Saturday.

Attendance at the inaugural Taipei festival reached 200,000, rising to more than 500,000 last year, he said.

The event provided an opportunity for Taiwan and France to promote shared values, including creative freedom and public access to art, Laplanche said.