Department of Cultural Affairs

Nuit Blanche Taipei
 
Nuit Blanche is an annual all-night arts festival originated in Paris and takes place the first Saturday night of October. The city of Paris invites the public to explore new aspects and depths of the city by making contemporary art accessible to the mass audience. Exhibitions, contemporary art, performances, multimedia projections, concerts, dance, and interactive events… the most creative ideas of artists and designers from all over the world turn the Nuit Blanche of Paris into one of the most cutting edge cultural events. The original concept of the Nuit Blanche is deeply connected with the urban innovation and public space design. The success of the Nuit Blanche has led over 120 world cities to organize their own Nuit Blanche. From Rome to Toronto, from Cairo to Melbourne, each year, new cities organize this event. In 2016, Taipei started joining the worldwide celebration of creativity and hosting the very first Nuit Blanche of Taiwan, together with World Design Capital 2016 as joint events.
 
From 2016 on, Nuit Blanche Taipei understands the old city of Taipei as the stage where the collective memories of the city can relive. Through the Beimen neighborhood, the historic Dadaocheng, walking along the eclectic bookstores that align on Chongqing South Street, reaching up to the 228 Peace Memorial Park and the National Taiwan Museum. Through the many stories of politics, culture, everyday life, the 2016 Nuit Blanche Taipei invited everyone to experience and creating the collective memories of Taipei’s West side being transformed by multimedia artworks, contemporary musicians and performances, and bringing new energies with refreshing perspectives to the city.
 
2018 Nuit Blanche Taipei marks the third edition of Nuit Blanche Taipei, which held along Zhongshan North Road between section one and three. The areas around the Yuanshan MRT Station and the Nanjing West Road Commercial District was the northern and southern main sites of this event, gathering at least 70 performances and 43 art installations this year. Curator Sean C.S. Hu served as 2018 Nuit Blanche Taipei’s artistic director. Under the curatorial theme of Upside Down City, the public is encouraged to open their minds for viewing people and things, and to discover extraordinary Taipei cityscapes. Zhongshan North Road was chosen as 2018 Nuit Blanche Taipei’s venue because of its many stories from different periods of Taipei’s history. These include government buildings constructed during the Japanese occupation era (1895-1945), entertainment and commercial venues from the time of the US military presence in Taiwan, and today’s cultural diversity from the gathering of migrant workers. In addition, there are offices and shops representative of the financial, wedding photography and information industries, which point to Taiwan’s economic strength. These sections of Zhongshan North Road symbolize the development of Taiwan over the past century and are worth taking a closer look at from both domestic and international perspectives for their history, geography, industries and culture. With the theme of Upside Down City, Nuit Blanche Taipei encourages exploration and the revealing of stories, It reverses and transforms the urban streets into museums without walls, urban stages, and street theaters, which worth fun strolls with endless thrill!
 
2019 Nuit Blanche Taipei was staged at the outdoor plaza on the ground floor of Miramar Entertainment Park. Three performing groups from Taiwan, each with different styles, opened this year’s proceedings:

• Line Dance Taipei of TMAF, comprising local residents, who put on a show of Metro Line Dance that integrated a variety of dance genres—Latin, folk, and modern.
• Anarchy Dance Theatre, comprising students and amateur performers hailing from New Taipei Municipal Jin-Shan High School, Taipei Municipal Jingxing Junior High School, Zheng De Junior High School, and Taoyuan Municipal Nei Li Senior High School. Over a hundred dancers jointly developed the dance piece titled 42535 Daily Life in the Internet.
• Sonic art duo HH (Yao Chung-Han and Yeh Ting-Hao), who staged the mixed-media electronic performance HH X Jump (DJ set) combining highly rhythmic electronic music and rich visual material.
The exciting performances put on by the three local groups responded to Nuit Blanche Taipei’s 2021 call to action: Tonight, We Are All Artists. That night, every one of us was an artist.

2020 Nuit Blanche Taipei presented a variety of cross-disciplinary performances and fascinating visual art installations. It was hoped that the one-night immersive experience would integrate the landscape and dialogue of contemporary art, transforming the night into a freewheeling celebration of art and leaving behind beautiful memories of the city.
 
In 2021, Nuit Blanche Taipei transitioned to an online format for the first time, moving all physical art shows online and inviting the public to take part in a 12-hour online cultural experience. Although the pandemic did affect 2021 Nuit Blanche Taipei, the event officially opened at 6 p.m. on the first Saturday of October with the tagline 100 Ways to Start the Night. There followed the announcement on the official event page of four major art programs: 100 Sketches for the City, The Nuit Blanche Talks, Taipei City in Harmony, and A Cinematic Nuit Blanche, and also the program Art at Home in a new performance format. A series of audiovisual content, music, live streaming, interactive programs, and chat rooms were held online, enabling the public to enter art venues with a single click and fulfilling people’s need to come together online.