All new technologies can be a means of expression and have been adopted by today's artists. Yet, digital technology had never yet been the focus of an exhibition on the scale of Dans la nuit, des images.
Designed by Alain Fleischer, art director of the Fresnoy national studio for contemporary arts, the event celebrated ten years of digital creativity in the Nave, transformed for the occasion into a giant kaleidoscope.
To close the French Presidency of the European Union, the Grand Palais was ablaze with light every night for a fortnight. The event was a landmark in several ways. It was above all the force, the poetry and creativity of the event that made it such an outstanding public success drawing nearly 150,000 visitors with peak attendance reaching 19,000 people in one day! As they arrived on avenue Winston-Churchill, visitors were immersed in the magic of a light show designed by Charles Sandison who set in motion across the façade of the building a display of words taken from the taken from the European Union's charter of fundamental rights. Entering the Nave they then discovered the firework display of projected images: 130 works, mostly made in Europe, notably in France at the Fresnoy national studio of contemporary arts by young students or guest artists.
The extraordinary Nave of the Grand Palais was the perfect venue for this stunning project. A place to meet and dream, its mission is to support creativity in all its forms for the largest possible audience.
