Internationally acclaimed Art Festival Nuit Blanche will be transforming Downtown Houston on Saturday, April 6th for its inaugural debut! Imagine Houston animated at night, transformed by the magic of art with unique installations dotted around City Hall and the Houston Public Library. The public gets to take part in creating a work of art inspired by French Architect Yona Friedman and view an exhibit of his artwork inside the Central Library gallery (on the first floor). This unique celebration will engage both highly regarded international artists and local luminaries as well as school children. Visit www.houstonlibrary.org or call 832-393-1313 for more information.
Festival Nuit Blanche Activities
Saturday, April 6 | 12 PM – 9 PM
Central Library, Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza, 500 McKinney St., 77002 | 832-393-1313
Julia Ideson Building, 550 McKinney St., 77002 | 832-393-1313
“Space Chain Structure” Central Library Gallery
On Barbara Bush Literacy Plaza, visitors are invited to build a “space chain structure” with the help of art students and docents. Each installation, built using 1,500 hula hoops, is assembled spontaneously, creating new variations of space with each turn.
Specially trained docents will be available to offer tours that allow students to develop an understanding of art in both creative and historical contexts.
Movie: African Tales - Central Library Gallery
Friedman’s second piece of art exhibited during Nuit Blanche is “African Tales,” a series of ten films produced by Yona Friedman and his wife Denise Charvein, between 1960 and 1963. The animations are constructed from wooden blocks, carved and assembled to create the different scenes. The soundtrack is taken from UNESCO African music library, and each film is inspired by an ancestral African tale. Broadcasted in Africa by ethnologist and moviemaker Jean Roch, the films encountered great success. Lost until 2007, the films were restored with the help of the National Center for Edition, Art and Image in France.
Olivier Modr art exhibit inside the Julia Ideson Building
"I can’t remember”
The Houston Public Library’s Community Engagement Team – Central Library
Paper Circuits and an Art Activity | 4 PM – 6 PM
The Houston Public Library’s Youth Services Team – Central Library
Arts and crafts
About the Houston Public Library
The Houston Public Library (HPL) operates 37 neighborhood libraries, three HPL Express Libraries, a Central Library, the Houston Metropolitan Research Center, the Clayton Library Center for Genealogical Research, The African American Library at the Gregory School, and the Parent Resource Library located in the Children’s Museum of Houston. With more than eight million visits per year in person and online, HPL is committed to excellent customer service and equitable access to information and programs by providing library customers with free use of a diverse collection of printed materials and electronic resources, Internet, laptop and computer use, and a variety of database and reference resources with live assistance online 24/7.
For further information, visit the Houston Public Library at www.houstonlibrary.org, on Twitter @houstonlibrary, on Facebook – houstonlibrary or call 832-393-1313.