FIRST NUIT BLANCHE IN ASIA
On June 1st 2007, Shanghai’s first Nuit Blanche, the White or Sleepless Night, featured 5000 visitors, 30 art installations, and 10 concerts in a display of extravagant art. A concept invented in 2002 by Christophe Girard, deputy mayor of Paris, Nuit Blanche is a night when most of the city, including galleries, museums and public performance spaces stay open until dawn promoting contemporary culture. In 2006, more than one and a half million people participated in the event. Having proved very popular in the French capital, the concept has been adopted by many other cities, including Montreal, Toronto, Rome, Brussels, Madrid, Riga (Latvia) and, as of June 1st, Shanghai. Concert, performance, chocolate sculpture, giant live calligraphies and interactive video projections were at the center of this event. A thousand people over the course of the night interacted with the various digital installations shown benevolently by Island6 or Le Cube. Island6 presented the work of the American artist Zack Simpson, along the work of young Chinese, Belgian, French and Moroccan artists.  The Nuit Blanche was organized by Claude Hudelot on behalf of the Consulate General of France and was part of "Croisements/Crossings" 2007, a festival organized by the Embassy of France in Beijing and by the Consulate General of France in Shanghai.

MANFREDI and AFG TRUST were the main sponsors of Nuit Blanche. The event was also sponsored by REMY MARTIN, SITC LOGISTICS, PARIS REGION ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AGENCY, SOFITEL HYLAND SHANGHAI, Le ROYAL MERIDIEN SHANGHAI, AIR FRANCE, VEP DESIGN, ARCELOR MITAL, EYES ON ASIAN ARTS, SHANGHAI DAILY, PARISHINE, BEAUGESTE DESIGN and MICHEL CLUIZEL CHOCOLATIERS.
Special thanks to Bonko Chan, Pearl Lam, Eagle Media, in charge of the whole technical organization, Tv shooting and media plan, Island6 team for their devotion to Nuit Blanche together with LE CUBE, ACE Connexion for their creative imagination; Zack Simpson from Mine-Control for his support, Lime 388 for their help and skill; Margo Renisio (VEP Design) in charge of the indoor scenography, designer Simon Ma for VIP room nice furniture; Bizart and TNT for Trilogy choreography, Des Lys for their delicious catering; Jean Loh (Beaugeste Design), Lili Ren (Parishine); and Emilie Zhou, Clémence Decker, Chen Nan and Yannick Verry from the French Consulate.

Watch the Documentary produced by Lita Chow Yuen & Natalia Grgona, filmed and edited by Juliette McCawley. Watch the documentary in French.