What do Paris, Toronto, Copenhagen, Madrid, Malta, Montreal, Sao Paulo, Lima, Santa Monica, Chicago, Miami Beach and six cities in the UK have in common? They all host an all night art and cultural festival known as Nuit Blanche (White Night), which lasts from sundown until sunrise on the first Saturday and Sunday in October. While Paris kicked off the Nuit Blanche series in 2002, they were inspired by the ‘Lange Nacht der Museen’ (Long Night of Museums) held in Berlin, Germany since 1997, which goes from 6 pm to 2 am and has since expanded to 125 cities.

These events are focused on the downtown core of the city (streets closed to cars) which becomes an art gallery unto itself, infused with museums, art galleries and cultural institutions offering free admission to a suite of creative events and experiences including art installations, performances (music, film, dance, performance art) and themed social gatherings. Rome’s Nuit Blanche is one of the largest, attracting two million people via 400 events, while other cities focus on a more manageable 100. Read more about the different themes in this NY Times article, Outbreak of Insomnia is Spreading.

Think of it as a downtown Ciclovia for after hours - on steroids. Every city should have one, and in Europe practically every city does.  It brings new meaning to dancing in the streets - all night.

Thanks to Braulio Agnese of Architect magazine for the reference.

Image: Nuit Blanche in Brussels.

This is an alternative for a growing number of people bored with ‘So what bar are we going to tonight?’

First of all, a couple of definitions. Mixed-use is a placemaking/real estate development term for combining uses in a building (residential over retail), which also applies to neighborhoods (walkable) and businesses (bookstore coffeehouse bar lounge theater). Mashup refers to the combining of songs, videos, and web application features into a new and distinct product.

Thus, what happens when you combine all of these into an event, or more specifically, an event as part of Manhattan’s nightlife, as the NY Times discovers in Night Life Reprogrammed? This is best answered via one mere example, IgniteNYC, which is:

- An organized, regularly scheduled networking party, bringing together NYC’s Silicon Alley techies and entrepreneurs, later becoming a dance party;
- A Meetup.com inspired spontaneous, informal happy hour;
- A Burning Man inspired display of collective personal creativity;
- A technology conference focused on unveiling new ideas around an emerging field (such as web video), with brief but compelling presentations on cutting edge/irreverent topics by ‘keynote’ speakers;
- A shortened version of Pecha Kucha with presentations of 20 slides at 15 seconds each;
- A sporting event, with a competition (on this particular night) to build a remote control, with the winner signified by being the first to turn off a TV set.

Btw, IgniteNYC was inspired by IgniteSeattle (pictured).

In keeping with the spirit of the previous entry, The Dining Room Takes to the Street, here’s how to start your own informal public dining culture with the Permanent Breakfast.

Founded in Austria, the purpose of the Permanent Breakfast is to promote public areas and places via spontaneous gatherings for breakfast. The very first breakfast was held in Vienna on May 1, 1996 among five people, and has since spread throughout the world thanks to its formal program with the basic rule:

One person plans a breakfast in a public space. Usually at least four of the invited persons commit themselves to organize another public breakfast with different persons in a different place as soon as possible.

Recommendations are that everyone is responsible for their own breakfast (or via potluck); interested passersby are invited to breakfast; and that organizers register their breakfast on the website so that it’s publicized and furthers the mission.

Think of the Permanent Breakfast as a less bureaucratic, more grassroots version of creating a social, dining scene in a public space that may serve as a model for a larger, more permanent destination, such as this dining scene in Siena, Spain.

In one of the best NY Times articles ever published as it relates to what this site is all about, writer Penelope Green pens the phenomenon of creatives in New York City spontaneously crafting their own public spaces in The Dining Room Takes to the Streets. The photographs alone that are associated with the article are a must see, and some of the quotes are priceless.

Referred to as ‘invisible theater’, here are some examples of New Yorkers making their own urban gathering places (clockwise from top left):

- At her “Chez L’Hydrant”, Suzanne Seggerman hosts dinner parties for six or eight on the street in front of her building. People strolling by wonder if it’s a new restaurant and want a table.
- Reno, a comedian uses the loading dock of her building as a front porch, “I was on my loading dock one day and I called my dog and somebody actually shushed me, because her child was sleeping in ‘the fancy condo conversion across the street’. Then I felt bad that I told the lady to go back to the suburbs.”
- Another shot of Suzanne’s Chez L’Hydrant.
- Ten guests gather for a standing dinner party on the Manhattan-side tower of the Brooklyn Bridge. Passersby add to the festive atmosphere.

One of the most progressive agencies in the country, the NY DOT (Department of Transportation), again provides stellar leadership. Janette Sadik-Khan, commissioner of the DOT, “Public space is the glue that holds our city together and makes it worth living in. I always say the streets are the living rooms, so I guess that makes the sidewalks the front porches. We’re trying to remove the barriers to enjoying that space. The D.O.T.’s priority is safety [rather than use regulation]. If someone wants to use the sidewalk for a casual dinner, they just have to be considerate of the neighbors.”

Other cities, take note - if you want a culture and economy as rich and diverse as New York City’s, follow the NY DOT’s lead and you’ll manifest stories like this.

There are ‘green festivals’, then there’s San Francisco’s second annual Bicycle Music Festival, a one day, 15 band, 7 festival stop, free music festival that uses zero cars, trucks or even electricity. How?

- The bands all carry their equipment via bicycle trailers.
- The audience arrives via bike, skate and foot. They then travel sequentially to each of the seven festival stops in different parts of the city.
- The 600-watt P/A system is pedal-powered, developed by Rock the Bike in Berkeley, which produces some pretty snazzy bike lights. They also cofounded the festival along with The Juice Peddler.

Check out more in their video.

Image source: 2008-06-21 Bicycle Music Festival (Set)

In the previous entry we looked at Elizabeth Currid's The Economics of a Good Party and the process by which arts and culture added to the economy. Today, we look at Elizabeth's answer to the question, "How does the social community (ie the patrons, the attendees, the participants) influence the emergence of arts and culture that then translates to economic impact?" Her four ways:

1. Access to gatekeepers both formally and informally - Gatekeepers are defined as the purveyors of taste, so if you're friends with them, you're directly influencing the source.
2. Interaction across art/culture sectors - A bit related to branding as well as the experience economy, music for instance, becomes more appealing when it's associated with inspired venues and events.
3. Establishment of "weak ties" - This speaks to the power of community, where just being associated within a certain scene long enough will eventually bring you to the relationships you'll need, via 'weak ties', to the 'strong ties' that invest in your idea.
4. Distinction and emergence of taste, genre and subculture - See Yelp!, where visitors to the site don't check out the critics' reviews, they peruse their peers. This is word of mouth in one of its most efficient and effective forms.

Image source: kt_jewson.

How does art and culture translate into economic value? Elizabeth Currid, author of The Warhol Economy presents an invaluable scientific view on an industry regarded as anything but in her article, The Economics of a Good Party: Social Mechanics and the Legitimization of Art/Culture.

Simply speaking, arts and culture establishes economic value the more it's recognized as a scene, when people pay to share in the experience via goods or events. The real question is, how does it become a scene in the first place?

Elizabeth details the process through three role players: cultural gatekeepers, cultural commodity intermediaries, and the social community of consumers:

- The gatekeepers are the equivalent of the Renaissance's Medici, the purveyors of talent and taste that have earned such a reputation through success, whether it's a renowned designer or just someone who knows how to throw great parties. Once a gatekeeper identifies a cultural find, they work with...

- The intermediaries who represent the distribution channels (eg nightclubs, stores, parties) that provide consumer access to the 'chosen' associated cultural products and services. Place-specific reputation, exclusivity and rarity are context-oriented influencers.

Then there's the cultural social network representing the market itself that not only makes or breaks a cultural trend, but is playing an increasingly larger role in influencing the economic viability of artistic and cultural taste, especially in a rising crowdsourcing economy...

Thanks to Brian Corrigan for the reference!

Image: A 5-week art scene generated by gatekeeper George Koch of Artomatic in Washington DC.

So many emerging artists in one city - how can one possibly see them all? Enter Artomatic, Washington DC's five-week multimedia experience showcased in a single building that is one of those no-brainers as far as finding something to do on a given evening - this year being from May 9 through June 15 one block west from a subway station. Where else can you experience the work of 1000 local artists in one building over 28 days... for free? Not only that, but there are several events going on everyday, my favorite being the Afro-Brazilian all-women drumming group.

Previously held in 1999, 2000, 2002, 2004, 2007, what makes Artomatic unique is that it's hosted in a new building that's in between being structurally completed and tenant-ready. Because none of the walls, floors and ceilings are finished, the raw atmosphere fits the vibe of its content seamlessly, almost enthusiastically. Add to that the surreal feeling walking up to an animated building that looks more like a living exposed cross section of activity rather than your typical dormant office complex.

Image source: salvatore.ferro.

Urban square spon-taneous: Mass-created fountain

In this ongoing series of spontaneous creative happenings that are attracted to the public stage that is the urban square, 1500 students gathered in Place Ladeuzeplein, Leuven, Belgium to create their own instantaneous Bellagio Fountain... out of the infamous Coke and mentos, thus breaking the world record for... most mento-coke fountains at once.

Ok, it's not the kind of thing that jives with the Story of Stuff, but whoever has a problem with it should take it up with the Committee for the Termination of National Apathy.

Check out the fizz-filled video here. Note that the beauty of the surrounding square plays no small part in adding to the grandeur of the relatively trivial but eternally memorable event.

Urban square spontaneous: Roman pillow fight

What's the so called Committee for the Termination of National Apathy to do to achieve its mission of relieving anxiety and stress? A national pillow fight of course!

Some 300 people celebrated the third annual Roman Pillow Fight on Sunday, April 27, 2008 in Piazza Santa Maria in the Trastevere neighborhood of Rome, simultaneously commencing massive pillow action at precisely 6 pm when the piazza's clock tower began to chime.

It's one of those 'you had to be there' events, but you can get a sense of it from via YouTube.

This is the kind of event that represents the fun, spontaneous, community-building value of a central urban square.



Image source: IntheMood4.