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Because the Night:Curating One-Off Nocturnal EventsTEXT / HELENA RECKITTSince Paris established Nuit Blanche in 2002, thephenomenon of the one-off, late-night or allnightfree public art event has spread across theworld, from cities including Madrid, Riga, andReykjavik to Tel Aviv, Santa Monica, and Toronto.Animating landmark districts and extendinginto marginal neighborhoods, these festiveevents showcase contemporary art with anemphasis on luminous visual spectacle andaudience participation.Mayor Bertrand Delanoë launched NuitBlanche as part of a plan to reassert Paris’ post-World War II reputation for artistic innovation.Urban centers inspired by the Paris event sharedits ambition to brand or rebrand their particularcities. Lisbon’s Luzboa festival, established in2004, reimagines public space and rehabilitatesunsafe or undesirable neighborhoods throughlight. Nuit Blanche in Toronto receives fundingfrom the provincial cultural agency that wasestablished to combat the negative impact ofthe SARS epidemic on tourism. The UK nationwideprogram Light Night aims to overcomesome of the negative perceptions associatedwith the nighttime economy in many Britishcity centers. 1 Although a more grassroots effort,Atlanta’s Le Flash, from which the current FluxNight grew, has nonetheless played its part inurban rebranding. Launched in Castleberry Hillin 2008, when the neighborhood’s identity wasshifting from an arts quarter to a late-night bardistrict, the event has helped to reassert thearea’s cultural character. Whereas foundersCathy Byrd and Stuart Keeler established LeFlash on a bare-bones budget, Flux Night is nowoperated by the small but active arts organizationFlux Projects. Funding comes from the collectorand businessman Louis Corrigan andother private donors who wanted to demonstratetheir faith in Atlanta’s art scene andartists in the wake of the recession.In an era of reduced arts funding, the hugeaudiences generated by these occasions haveattracted government as well as corporate andprivate support. Flux Night is set to entice some15,000 people this October—an increase from13,000 in 2012. Toronto’s Nuit Blanche draws amillion people, roughly a quarter of the city’spopulation. It is particularly popular with youngpeople and suburbanites, typically considered“hard to reach” art audiences. 2 As Toronto-basedcurator Jim Drobnick remarks, “Main-stream artinstitutions would kill for that kind of audience.”3 This dramatic demonstration of publicinterest in contemporary art was thrown intosharp relief in 2008, shortly after StephenHarper’s election as Canada’s prime minister.In contrast to Harper’s attack on the arts as“the province of elites” with no resonance for“ordinary people,” crowds thronged the streetsfor Nuit Blanche. Dave Dyment, one of thatyear’s curators, recalls people adding handwrittennotes of gratitude and excitement to YokoOno's Wish Tree: “The messages were reallytouching and inspiring. Things like, ‘I wishStephen Harper could be here to see this.’ Theexperience reinforced my sense that the arts,without condescension, could communicate to abroad audience.” 4Not only does the public show up in drovesfor these nights, they also see themselves as partof the spectacle. They dress up—sometimesflamboyantly—equip themselves for the longnight ahead, tweet, blog, and Facebook throughthe event, sharing recommendations of “mustsee” works, and post their pictures on Flickr andInstagram. These activities reinforce the sensethat the audience is shaping the spectacle asmuch as consuming it. Guerrilla artworks andunauthorized projects proliferate, taking advantageof the crowds. Artists accompany or participatein their work, creating an informalrelationship between themselves and the public.Gallery rules are jettisoned as visitors drink,get high, fall asleep, speak on their phones, andloudly express their opinions.Audience participation in these events cantake art projects in unanticipated directions.Dyment recalls the role reversal between audienceand performers in a work he curated in2008. For Jon Sasaki’s I Promise It Will Always BeThis Way, 26 colorfully costumed mascotsdanced in a sports arena to the sounds of upbeatpop anthems, attempting to whip the crowdsinto a frenzy. Both Dyment and Sasaki thoughtthe plan would backfire and that the mascotswould “be asleep on the field by 2 am.” But thework took on a life of its own. In the absence of ateam to support, the crowd chanted for the mascots.“Somehow the mascots mustered theenergy to continue for the full 12 hours,” Dymentrecalls. “It was pretty fucking magical.” 5While curators often cite the situationistnotion of the dérive, “drifting” is nigh impossiblein these tightly programmed, crowded occasions.With their emphasis on spectacle, luminosity,and interactivity, it is more accurate todiscuss them in terms of what Google’s EricSchmidt calls the “attention economy,” where“winners will be those who succeed in maximizingthe number of ‘eyeballs’ they can consistentlycontrol.” 6 The one-night-only premisecreates an atmosphere of drama and urgency,requiring the expenditure of artistic and audienceenergy.The festive, after-hours mood can take on carnivalesquedimensions. Curators Jim Drobnickand Jennifer Fisher capitalized on this topsyturvyspirit in their NIGHTSENSE project forToronto’s financial district in 2009. Reflecting onthe previous year’s global economic crisis,Canadian artist Iain Baxter& led a game ofMonopoly with Real Money in the StockExchange, the Canadian duo Shawna Dempseyand Lorri Millan installed carnival rides alongthe financial artery of Bay Street, and Spanishartist Santiago Sierra paraded a flatbed truckcarrying the word “NO” in large black 3-D letters.Romanian artist Dan Mihaltianu’s contributionINSIDE FRONT COVER: Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky, installation view of All Night Convenience, 2012, lanterns: acetate, LED lights, tape; structure: acrylic, aluminum, 10 x 12x 21 feet [image courtesy of the artists] / OPPOSITE, TOP, LEFT TO RIGHT: Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Wild Ride, 2009, performance stills of one of two carnival rides installedon Bay Street from NIGHTSENSE (2009), curated by DisplayCult for Zone B of Nuit Blanche, Toronto; Santiago Sierra, No, 2009, installation on Temperance Street from NIGHTSENSE(2009), curated by DisplayCult for Zone B of Nuit Blanche, Toronto [photos: Paul Litherland; courtesy of DisplayCult] / MIDDLE, LEFT AND RIGHT: Rhonda Weppler and Trevor Mahovsky,installation view of All Night Convenience, 2012, lanterns: acetate, LED lights, tape; structure: acrylic, aluminum, 10 x 12 x 21 feet [images courtesy of the artists] / BOTTOM, LEFT TORIGHT: Dan Mihaltianu, Vodka Pool, 2009, installation in the CIBC bank atrium at Commerce Court from NIGHTSENSE (2009), curated by DisplayCult for Zone B of Nuit Blanche, Toronto[image courtesy of the artist and DisplayCult]; Center for Tactical Magic, Witches’ Cradles, 2009, performance stills at Brookfield Place from NIGHTSENSE (2009), curated by DisplayCultfor Zone B of Nuit Blanche, Toronto [photo: Paul Litherlan; courtesy of DisplayCult]ARTPAPERS.ORG 43