A look inside Winnipeg’s dusk-to-dawn art festival exhibits

By Sarah Vandale

Nuit Blanche Winnipeg is a one-night event that is dedicated to celebrating art with interactive installations created by artists all over Canada. Once the sun went down on Saturday, The Forks, the Exchange District, St. Boniface and downtown Winnipeg were filled with participants of all ages taking in the night’s festivities.

With light-up teeter-totters, an interactive LCD screen, and Instagram-worthy photo opportunities, Nuit Blanche illuminated Winnipeg until the early hours of the morning.

Nuit Blanche originally began in Paris in 1984, and in Winnipeg in 2010. Over the years it has grown to be a large part of the Culture Days weekend and produced with the Winnipeg Arts Council.

An art installation at [RE]roof by the Winnipeg Design Festival located on top of the parkade at The Forks. [RE]roof reimagined how spaces are used by filling the space with swings, a mini-golf hole, a live band, food and a Street Patio as an exhibit of Nuit Blanche Sept. 29, 2018./Sarah Vandale

High school student Emma Lloyd adds to the Travelling Graffiti Wall put on by the Students of Fine Arts Student Association at the University of Manitoba at Nuit Blanche on Sept. 29, 2018. Participants were able to paste, paint and sign the wall in any way that they wanted to express themselves./ Sarah Vandale

 

TELUS Network of Art was an installation of lit-up green, purple and white balloons that when seen from above are positioned in the shape of Canada on Sept. 29, 2018. The lights would flicker and turn off and on to create an eye-catching light show./ Sarah Vandale

 

Underneath the balloons of the TELUS Network of Art, children could be found running around and playing tag, while the older audience took advantage of a great photo opportunity at Nuit Blanche on Sept. 29, 2018./ Sarah Vandale

 

Hand of the Machine by Solmund MacPherson of Winnipeg was one of the juried selections for this year’s Nuit Blanche in Winnipeg. The fingers on the hand would bend as participants pulled on the connected cords on Sept. 29, 2018./ Sarah Vandale

 

Red River College student Lindsey McCormick takes a closer look at Hand of the Machine in Millennium Library Park. The exhibit by Solmund MacPherson of Winnipeg was one of the juried selections for this year’s Nuit Blanche in Winnipeg on Sept. 29, 2018./ Sarah Vandale

 

A crowd of people wait to get their hand on CONTROL NO CONTROL in the Exchange District on Sept. 29, 2018. The interactive LED sculpture was one of the two featured works at Nuit Blanche Winnipeg this year and was created by Daniel Iregui of Montreal./ Sarah Vandale

 

Red River College student Liliya Medynska interacts with CONTROL NO CONTROL, creating a new pattern of light from those around her at Nuit Blanche in Winnipeg on Sept. 29, 2018./ Sarah Vandale

 

Spectators of all ages gather around Impulse, an exhibit at Nuit Blanche Winnipeg on Sept. 29, 2018. The installation consisted of light-up teeter-totters that play music and was a great fun for participants of all ages./ Sarah Vandale