Tag: la noche enblanco

space type: public art show | neighborhood: greenpoint | active since: 2010 | links: website, facebook

I’m a little late to the party; there have been dozens of articles written about this incredible public art show, from Free Williamsburg to Flavorwire to Greenpointers to Brooklyn Based. But the aim of Brooklyn Spaces is to make a compendium of creative ways to use space in Brooklyn, so of course I’m going to add my own gushing endorsement to this amazing festival.

Nuit Blanche started in Paris in 2001, and has since expanded into a global night of revelry in over thirty cities across the world, including Nuit Blanche Asterdam, Northern Lights Montreal, La Noche en Blanco in Madrid, and Roppongi Art Night in Tokyo. It happens every year on October 1, and brings millions of people out to experience free, site-specific art installations involving light, sound, and projection. New York’s festival is only in its second year, but despite this year’s chilly temps and intermittent rain, around fifteen thousand people of all ages flocked to an unappreciated (and stunning) corner of industrial Greenpoint for some absolutely amazing art.

With over fifty artists participating, the Greenpoint waterfront, alleyways, and a playground were utterly transformed. There were projections of people climbing up buildings, huge sculptures made of neon tubes, light-box photography displays, flashing and cascading lights synced to live music, and on and on. In good Brooklyn fashion, every other person had a fancy camera to try to capture the surreal night, there were several food trucks on hand, and the art was extra-rewarding and strange for those who ventured down the darker alleys or out to the pier. Some standouts for me included Amanda Long’s “Swings”, an “interactive video sculpture” featuring projections in real time of people on a swingset; Dustin Yellin’s “Surfaces for Rent”, backlit collages of architectural Greenpoint; “BOB” by Shai Fuller, Jocelyn Oppenheim, Jacob Segal, Bryce Suite, and Chris Jordan, which was an “environment for light” created at Columbia University; and Youth Poetry Illuminated, a traveling “poem-mobile.”

No interview in this post, but scroll down for more gorgeous photos from Julia Roberts!

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Like this? Read about more public art & performance: Dumpster Pools, Idiotarod, Lost Horizon Night Market