SPEND A NIGHT IN WHITE, NOT SAT IN
Yes, the end of British Summer Time on Saturday 30th heralds the arrival of dark evenings, bleak weather and heating bills, but there’s the bonus of an extra hour’s playtime overnight as the clocks go back. White Night 2010 is a festival of art, music, spoken word and performance that makes good use of the bonus 60 minutes, stretching the cultural goodness until dawn. This year’s theme is Illumination, as the city’s artists, venues, curators and programmers shine a light on the city and its psyche – all for free.
This year’s programme is the biggest yet and looks set to attract a record 30,000 visitors. Here’s a few illuminating reasons why:
THE THEATRE OF WONDERS
Friends Meeting House 9pm-4am
Brighton Life Drawing Sessions present an in-and-outdoor programme of human form depiction. The Meeting House on Ship Street hosts a bevy of clothed and birthday-suited models presenting long, short and medium poses in the cabinet of curiosities-style Theatre Of Wonder, while The Cabinets Of Wonder are three travelling caravans meandering the streets, opening to reveal costumed models for al fresco life drawing.
MIDNIGHT MURAL
Evolution Arts Centre 9pm-midnightCreating a mega mural by collaboration is your path to creative enlightenment here. Working alongside others is the key, using text, cutout images, drawings and paintings to illustrate your dreams and aspirations. A real sense of community comes out in the group effort, as the various tags and daubs contribute to an overall artistic personality that defines the place and time of its creation.
EARFILM CINEMA
Uni of Brighton/Sallie Benney 8pm-2am
Let’s face it; filmmakers are only ever projecting their own imaginations onto the screen, so Earfilms allow the viewer to totally customise the experience by using their own. Yes, the attendees are actually blindfolded as they sit back and allow cinematic storytelling with 3D sound to create a minds-eye movie all of their own. The programme is presented by Polar Bear and Daniel Marcus Clark, followed by a special late night opening of Brighton Photo Biennial: A Night In Argentina.
BRIGHT SPARKS
Jubilee Library 8pm-1am
Brightonart have utilised the best in modern audio and visual technology to create a contemporary art installation, in what will be its first appearance in its home town. Archive images with a special focus on the city’s black history will be projected and manipulated live, coming to life before your eyes to bring Black History Month to a fitting close.
SOS
Sea Life Centre 6pm-2am
Away from its usual daytime guppy gawping, the Sea Life Centre invites you to an evening of illuminating culture. Discover some of the secrets of the deep and enjoy a little light music alongside some underwater wildlife, just yards from the real thing in situ, and hang about for some informative chat about how precious and fragile it all is, with actions points for saving it from the ravages of humanity.
LIGHT FINGERED PIANO TRAIL
Across The City 6pm-4am
Light fingers are what nearby residents will hope you’ll employ towards the end of this activity. For these are street pianos, placed around town, with the sole objective of sharing your, ahem, musical illumination and enlightenment to passers-by. Last year the standard was annoyingly high, with queues of show-offs hoping to out-Jools-Holland each other, but there’s always space for a quick rendition of Chopsticks. Let’s have drum kits next year?
MIDNIGHT HALF MARATHON
Old Paddling Pool Midnight
You’re never going to get a better time in a half marathon than if you start an hour before the clocks go back. We’d imagine that there’s something quite special about running through the street at night without the impetus of having knocked over someone’s kebab, and it’s in aid of the British Heart Foundation to. Register from 10.30pm.
THIRTEEN STEPS
Various coffee shops 6pm-5am
Spend a night of self improvement with 13 hourly talks and demonstrations from how to eat well in times of austerity, to how to flirt, via how to taste wine and how to swear. That’s the sort of self-improvement we can get behind.
WORDS BY NICK COQUET
