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| All-nighter arts festival to transform London | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| On Saturday 2 July, the sun won’t set until 9.20pm, but by then London’s first Art Night festival will be well under way. From 6pm until the early hours of the morning the Institute of Contemporary Arts is going to magically transform some of the city’s most familiar sites, including the Duke of York Steps and Covent Garden Market Place as well as a number of secret spaces such as the Admiralty Arch, on a disused underground platform at Charing Cross. | On Saturday 2 July, the sun won’t set until 9.20pm, but by then London’s first Art Night festival will be well under way. From 6pm until the early hours of the morning the Institute of Contemporary Arts is going to magically transform some of the city’s most familiar sites, including the Duke of York Steps and Covent Garden Market Place as well as a number of secret spaces such as the Admiralty Arch, on a disused underground platform at Charing Cross. |
| For one night, a trail of art, architecture, dance, design and music will infiltrate the streets and buildings of London, starting outside the ICA on the Mall. The ICA has been the home of radical art and culture since 1946, but Art Night offers a new stage for 10 international artists, including six brand-new site-specific commissions. | For one night, a trail of art, architecture, dance, design and music will infiltrate the streets and buildings of London, starting outside the ICA on the Mall. The ICA has been the home of radical art and culture since 1946, but Art Night offers a new stage for 10 international artists, including six brand-new site-specific commissions. |
| Paris has mounted a Nuit Blanche (“White night”), an all-night festival that celebrates the Parisian contemporary art scene, every October since 2002. But the idea goes back to 1990, when Jean Blaise, the originator, created a late-night cultural festival in Nantes, which brought international artists to the city under the title Les Allumées (“The all lit up”). Since then the concept has been taken up by more than 30 cities, including Brussels, Rome, Madrid, Melbourne, Santiago and Toronto. (This year Parisians have also instigated spontaneous nuits debouts, night-time protest meetings in the Place de la République that have been imitated across France and given François Hollande’s government trouble.) | Paris has mounted a Nuit Blanche (“White night”), an all-night festival that celebrates the Parisian contemporary art scene, every October since 2002. But the idea goes back to 1990, when Jean Blaise, the originator, created a late-night cultural festival in Nantes, which brought international artists to the city under the title Les Allumées (“The all lit up”). Since then the concept has been taken up by more than 30 cities, including Brussels, Rome, Madrid, Melbourne, Santiago and Toronto. (This year Parisians have also instigated spontaneous nuits debouts, night-time protest meetings in the Place de la République that have been imitated across France and given François Hollande’s government trouble.) |
| The London Art Night festival was conceived by an international group of young, self-styled “urban explorers”, Unlimited Productions. With backing from the Arts Council and the art auctioneers Phillips, each year they will partner a cultural institution with a curator to commission events that cast their locality in a fresh light – a night light. | The London Art Night festival was conceived by an international group of young, self-styled “urban explorers”, Unlimited Productions. With backing from the Arts Council and the art auctioneers Phillips, each year they will partner a cultural institution with a curator to commission events that cast their locality in a fresh light – a night light. |
| The London events are curated by Kathy Noble, who organised the programme for the opening of Tate Modern’s Tanks. Next year it will be the turn of the East End, with the Whitechapel Art Gallery taking over from the ICA as the partners. | The London events are curated by Kathy Noble, who organised the programme for the opening of Tate Modern’s Tanks. Next year it will be the turn of the East End, with the Whitechapel Art Gallery taking over from the ICA as the partners. |
| Located on the Mall, in the heart of ceremonial London, the ICA will mark the occasion with a ceremony from the punk performance artist Linder Sterling. The new work will feature more than 100 performers, including tap, ballroom and northern soul dancers, alongside catwalk models, in a series of tableaux. One aim of the festival is to use art to give audiences access to spaces across London that are usually closed to the public. There will be an exploration of the grand interior spaces of Admiralty Arch, currently empty, where the Turner prize-winning artist Laure Prouvost will create one of her extraordinary narrative installations. | Located on the Mall, in the heart of ceremonial London, the ICA will mark the occasion with a ceremony from the punk performance artist Linder Sterling. The new work will feature more than 100 performers, including tap, ballroom and northern soul dancers, alongside catwalk models, in a series of tableaux. One aim of the festival is to use art to give audiences access to spaces across London that are usually closed to the public. There will be an exploration of the grand interior spaces of Admiralty Arch, currently empty, where the Turner prize-winning artist Laure Prouvost will create one of her extraordinary narrative installations. |
| Two more traditional settings will be transformed by contemporary artists. Southwark Cathedral will play host to the UK premiere of Reanimation by performance artist Joan Jonas and musician Jason Moran. Jonas uses drawings, close-circuit video projections and choreography, while Moran is an American jazz pianist and composer who works in theatrical installations and multimedia art. And the formal courtyard of the former government offices at Somerset House will be invaded by hundreds of performers in a “cultural fitness exercise”, a mass-action performance called Physique of Consciousness, devised by the Chinese artist Xu Zhen with MadeIn Company. | Two more traditional settings will be transformed by contemporary artists. Southwark Cathedral will play host to the UK premiere of Reanimation by performance artist Joan Jonas and musician Jason Moran. Jonas uses drawings, close-circuit video projections and choreography, while Moran is an American jazz pianist and composer who works in theatrical installations and multimedia art. And the formal courtyard of the former government offices at Somerset House will be invaded by hundreds of performers in a “cultural fitness exercise”, a mass-action performance called Physique of Consciousness, devised by the Chinese artist Xu Zhen with MadeIn Company. |
| Covent Garden’s piazza will be taken over by dance artist Cecilia Bengolea to create a new video series combining Jamaican dancehall movement with classically trained dancers in response to the architecture and atmosphere of the famous market. Throughout the night it will be projected on to the mirrored facade of the east piazza. Bengolea collaborated with Jamaican dancehall artist Damion Wallace and ballerina Erika Miyauichi to create the work, bringing together two styles she says are rarely designed to meet. While at 190 The Strand, a luxury flat will undergo a strange conversion at the hands of installation artist Nina Beier, drawing attention to how we create and perform images of our lifestyles. | Covent Garden’s piazza will be taken over by dance artist Cecilia Bengolea to create a new video series combining Jamaican dancehall movement with classically trained dancers in response to the architecture and atmosphere of the famous market. Throughout the night it will be projected on to the mirrored facade of the east piazza. Bengolea collaborated with Jamaican dancehall artist Damion Wallace and ballerina Erika Miyauichi to create the work, bringing together two styles she says are rarely designed to meet. While at 190 The Strand, a luxury flat will undergo a strange conversion at the hands of installation artist Nina Beier, drawing attention to how we create and perform images of our lifestyles. |
| A new film by Jennifer West that plays with the idea of “cinema as memory” will be shown at St Mary le Strand church, looking at the history of film and encouraging audience members to interact with the work by writing their own memories on to 70mm film, which will be incorporated into a future feature film. There is also the grand neogothic interior of William Waldorf Astor’s former office at Two Temple Place, where the choreographer Alexandra Bachzetsis will present new work. And the disused Jubilee Line platform at Charing Cross will be transformed into a sensory environment by artist Koo Jeong A, using smell and light that responds to the eerie space. | A new film by Jennifer West that plays with the idea of “cinema as memory” will be shown at St Mary le Strand church, looking at the history of film and encouraging audience members to interact with the work by writing their own memories on to 70mm film, which will be incorporated into a future feature film. There is also the grand neogothic interior of William Waldorf Astor’s former office at Two Temple Place, where the choreographer Alexandra Bachzetsis will present new work. And the disused Jubilee Line platform at Charing Cross will be transformed into a sensory environment by artist Koo Jeong A, using smell and light that responds to the eerie space. |
| At a time when artists are being forced out of London and people struggle to afford to live in the city, this project affords everyone a rare opportunity to explore the heart of the London through a series of imaginative artistic encounters. | At a time when artists are being forced out of London and people struggle to afford to live in the city, this project affords everyone a rare opportunity to explore the heart of the London through a series of imaginative artistic encounters. |
| • Art Night takes place across London on 2 July. | • Art Night takes place across London on 2 July. |