Over the past few years, White Night festivals have been popping up in cities the world over, becoming lynchpins of cultural life.

It was just a matter of time before Monaco would join the list, and that’s now a done deal as the Principality is getting ready to stay up until the small hours on the 29th of April for its first “ Nuit Blanche”.

Originally created in Paris in 2002 and inspired by St. Petersburg’s “White Nights”, which celebrate the city’s warm weather months, la “Nuit Blanche” is a nocturnal and multi-cultural event that takes place in many places around town, from museums and churches to parks and touristic sites, and aims at presenting to the general public contemporary art forms in unconventional places.

In Monaco, the festival will be an “original and ambitious artistic journey” orchestrated by Jörg Heiser, a well-known art critic and the co-publisher of the magazine Frieze.

The ambitious programme will feature Saâdane Afif (France, winner of the Prince Pierre Foundation award in 2006), Doug Aitken (United-States), Shana Moulton (United-States), Daniel Steegman Mangrané (Spain), Henrik Hakansson (Denmark), Chassol (France) and Gabriel Lester (The Netherlands).

Look out for works involving planes, boats, horses and music, intended not as a series of attractions but rather “as choreographed events”.

All in all, a perfect excuse to stay up late on a Friday night!

Lead image © monticellllo