In Pictures: Nuit Blanche 2011

From Jacob Kleinman

A silent film entitled "The Landscape is Changing” was playing on a loop inside the International Visual Theater in the 9th arrondissement. Throughout the film, a small group of protesters stood at an intersection of an unnamed city and marched through traffic while holding up large mirrors on sticks instead of the expected home-made signs with protest slogans. One of the most interesting and thought-provoking installations this reporter discovered at Nuit Blanche, the implication of the film was unclear. Were the protests holding up a mirror to society? Protesting everything and anything by standing against whatever happened to be reflected in their picket signs? Or were they simply acting out a satire of the act of protest itself? There was no obvious answer and no opportunity to inquire as the theater and the space outside were completely silent. People communicated only in sign language, both out of respect for sleeping neighbors and as a reference to the International Visual Theater, which offers sign language courses.