About White Night
About White Night
The forum is based on the idea of opening up the city to contemporary art activities for one night, offering a broad and diverse cultural programme. The tradition of “White Night” (French: Nuit Blanche) began in Paris in 2002. Brussels, Madrid, Riga and Rome later joined Paris to establish the “European White Nights” (Nuits Blanches Europe) cooperation network. Today, the White Night tradition continues not only in European cities but also in Canada, the United States, Japan and elsewhere. In Riga, the project known as the contemporary culture forum “White Night” has been held since 2006. This year marks the 21st edition of the forum.
The aim of White Night is to encourage the public to discover the diversity of contemporary culture and foster broader interest in cultural events, forms of expression and developments. White Night takes place both in the city centre and in other neighbourhoods, revealing a city that is open to residents and visitors of different ages, nationalities and social backgrounds. White Night events traditionally take place not only in established cultural and art venues but also in unexpected urban settings, helping to broaden perceptions of what culture can be.
This year’s theme, “The city comes alive wherever we are”, presents the city as a living ecosystem in which people coexist with other living beings. The central idea behind the visual identity is to highlight the presence of nature within the urban environment and invite us to notice what we often overlook or ignore in our everyday lives. The programme’s conceptual framework has been developed by Līna Birzaka, while the visual identity has been created by Ieva Putniņa, one of the most distinctive Latvian artists of her generation.
Once again this year, White Night invites everyone to stay awake on the night of 5–6 September and experience cultural events in Riga’s Old Town and city centre, as well as in neighbourhoods across the city: Āgenskalns, Zasulauks/Dzirciems, Brasa, Skanste, Grīziņkalns, Teika, Vecmīlgrāvis and Sarkandaugava. This year’s White Night events will take place at venues including the University of Latvia Botanical Garden, SunsStudio, Riga Art Space and Town Hall Square, Neatkarības Square, Bastejkalns Park, Riga Congress Hall, Vērmanes Garden, the courtyard of the Latvian Puppet Theatre, the French Institute in Latvia, the Veldze Creative Quarter, the courtyard of K. K. von Stricka Villa, the National Film School of the Latvian Academy of Culture, Kim? Contemporary Art Centre, the Ghetto Games Amphitheatre, VEF Culture Palace, the park of the Ziemeļblāzma Culture Palace and other locations.
Admission to all White Night events is free of charge.
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The organiser informs visitors that photography and/or video recording will take place during the event. The resulting materials may be used for publicity and public information purposes. The organiser accepts no responsibility for photography and/or video recording carried out by third parties or for the subsequent use of such materials.
