Nuit Blanche

I know it's been some time already, but I've been wanting to write down some thoughts about this year's event, so here we are. 

Looking back, what I remember most is the cold. Hours spent alone in deserted streets, trying to ignore the freezing gusts of wind and occasional spells of rain. It took prominence on the art. 

What comes next in my recollection is actually the Freyssinet Hall. I'm a big fan of industrial architecture, and this space is awe-inspiring, especially at night with unlit areas fading in the distance.  

So what about the art? Good question. What about the art? Why did the weather and a piece of disused architecture more impacting than the art on display? Most art on show for the Nuit Blanche struck me as decorative at best. Decorative is okay, but is it enough? Decorative is what the city government aims for, and it is what they got: a striking proof of their capacity to smooth out everything and give a pacified sense of unity, at the expense of life. Street artists on show at the Freyssinet Hall each had their own little box to decorate, and decorate they did. Anti-authority street art tamed and organised into a zoological sequence of exotic murals. 

In the end, I was not sure if this was art, or simply a demonstration of the near-absolute control of Paris' city government on the city - a mayors' myth forcefully enacted.