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Taipei Nuit Blanche art festival to turn city ‘upside down’
2018-10-05

An astronaut holds a glowing orb in a promotional video for the 2018 Nuit Blanche Taipei taking place Oct. 6 in the west of the city. (Courtesy of Origin Sun Studio)

An astronaut holds a glowing orb in a promotional video for the 2018 Nuit Blanche Taipei taking place Oct. 6 in the west of the city. (Courtesy of Origin Sun Studio)
 

An all-night celebration of the arts with films, light installations and performances will be staged in the capital’s streets and cultural buildings Oct. 6 for the annual Nuit Blanche Taipei festival.
 
Themed Upside Down City, Taipei’s third Nuit Blanche features works exploring the connections between opposites such as day and night, prosperity and decline, and tradition and modernity. Taking part are around 60 local and overseas artists from countries and territories including Canada, France, Japan and the Philippines.
 
According to organizer Department of Cultural Affairs under Taipei City Government, the diverse range of activities on offer will showcase the metropolis’s charismatic spirit in an event that attracts around 200,000 art lovers every year.
 
The 12-hour celebration will be staged in the streets and at cultural sites centered in the west of the city. Contemporary institutions like Taipei Fine Arts Museum to historic buildings such as Taipei Film House—the former American Consulate in Taiwan—are taking part.
 
Visitors can enjoy 43 art installations and over 70 performances and programs that range from music and theater to a reading marathon and street sports.

Originating in France in 2002, Nuit Blanche takes place annually on the first Saturday of October in cities around the world, with art galleries, museums and cultural organizations open throughout the night and free of charge. Taipei was the second city in Asia to stage the event in 2016 after Kyoto in Japan. (CPY-E)