The second edition of Nuit Blanche, an annual all-night arts festival, opened in Taipei last night.
At the opening ceremony at National Taiwan University (NTU), Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) told participants that the festival originated in Paris and is held yearly on the first Saturday night of October.
The core themes of the festival this year are urban innovation and public space design, and the public was invited to explore new aspects and depths of the city as performances continued and galleries remained open through the night and the city was transformed into a one-night-only gigantic art gallery from 6pm yesterday until 6am this morning.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
Taipei was the second Asian city to introduce the all-night arts festival, after Kyoto in Japan, Ko said, adding that the public was invited to explore museums and public art spaces for free.
Ko joked that Taipei residents must be bored, as the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs told him that more than 200,000 people attended last year.
Last year’s Nuit Blanche was held mainly around the Ximending (西門町) shopping area, between Taipei’s North Gate (北門) and the 228 Peace Memorial Park, with “light sculptures” projected onto the gate and buildings.
This year the event was moved to the so-called “Wen Luo Ting” (溫羅汀) area, named after Wenzhou Street (溫州街), Roosevelt Road (羅斯福路) and Tingzhou Road (汀州路), between which it is located.
“The Wen Luo Ting area has many independent bookstores and independent coffee shops, and the nearby NTU campus has many museums for people to visit tonight,” Ko said, adding that he hoped people could get to know the city’s public spaces better through the event.
Ko said he was amazed by the outstanding performances during the opening and closing ceremonies of the Taipei Summer Universiade in August, because many people previously believed good quality performances could only be realized by teams from other countries, but they were successfully organized by young Taiwanese people.
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