To sound cliched, it was truly a night to remember. 2013 welcomed Melbourne and Australia to the family of Nuit Blanche, that is the ‘White Night‘, a free arts and cultural event now hosted around the world, and coming to 23 countries this year.
Already known as the arts loving, theatre-going city, Melbourne transformed its everyday face as a city of business to being a theatre or a blank canvas for the night. The display it put on was something the city had never seen before, as over 300 artists performed across 40 venues from dusk (7pm) until dawn (7am); and best of all there was something for all ages.
From playing with ‘clouds’ and walking with dinosaurs at the NVG for the young or young at heart, to Jazz and ska band the Cat Empire putting a new spin on the Melburnian phrase “I’ll meet you under the clock”, as well as real-time street-art, and a homages to two of the cities identities – AFL and fashion. The World Famous Spiegeltent even made an appearance, alongside local film productions – the theatre a loading dock, and who can leave out the lights, lazers, and water fountains that blazed alongside – and sometimes in – the Yarra River.
I barely scratched of Melbourne’s White Night, but I will share with you my experience through the photos I took and hope you join me next year.
Live Street Art on illuminated letters ‘White Night’ – Princes Bridge
Spheres of Love where people could text their loved ones messages – Southbank/Yarra River
Turned into a stage and theatre for performers, including the Cat Empire – Flinders Street Station
Enjoying the late night food from the street trucks and sitting on tram lines – Flinders Street
Models strutted their stuff on big screens, a homage to Melbourne’s fashion identity – Flinders Lane
Buzzing with colour, light installations and people, Melbourne’s laneways came alive – Flinders Lane
An empty laneway, beautiful in its serenity – off of Flinders Lane
Throwing shoes over telephone wires became beautiful as shoes were illuminated – off Flinders Lane
Is this love or is it a fantasy? People played with silhouettes, battling monsters and finding love – City Square
Melbourne’s city florist was open all night as well – Swanston Street
Paying homage to one of Melbourne’s top religions, AFL – St Paul’s Church/Flinders Lane
Checking out the newest street art in Melbourne – Hosier Lane
White Night wasn’t just about lights and lazers, there were plenty of live theatre performances – Flinders Street
The Forum was lit up in style – Flinders Street
Lighting made the buildings look like they had knitted fronts – Flinders Street
Small Pox Theatre provided miniature performances all night, including this singing/dancing skeleton marionette – Flinders Street
But the best lighting displays were hidden in the back streets – St Pauls/Flinders Street
All whilst, a Melbourne icon continued to look amazing all night long – Flinders Street Station
Come 4am plenty of people were relaxing, though not asleep – Federation Square
‘I Could Have Danced With You All Night Long’ was at its hiphop section – Federation Square
It seemed that the crowds loved to hiphop at 4:30am! – Federation Square
Walking along the waterfront there were inflatables – Birrarung Marr
As the last light show of the night lit up the Yarra River, the city skyline it’s backdrop – Birrarung Marr
There comes a time when night must concede to the daylight, as 7am drew near – Birrarung Marr
The ‘Night’ live canvas was completed just as the sun began to rise – Princes Bridge
If daybreak is more your thing, Everlast held a free boxing boot camp over the Yarra – South Bank Foot Bridge
Have you been to a White Night/Nuit Blanche?
See other people’s White Night Melbourne experiences:
19 Comments
Monica
February 25, 2013 at 6:30 amYou’ve just made me miss Melbourne even more! Looks like an amazing night and you’ve got some incredible photos!
Nicole
February 25, 2013 at 7:10 pmThanks for your lovely words, Monica. 🙂
Hope you can come back to Melbourne soon – White Night or not – because I’m sure Melbourne misses you.!
Andreas
February 25, 2013 at 11:35 amGreat shots … very nice. It was a fantastic event (unfortunately we only could stay for a few hours as it was way passed bedtime for little one). My favourite was the dance shows on Fed Square … have a look at the little video we did: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okpGGh2cElE
Nicole
February 25, 2013 at 7:07 pmCool video! Looks like you guys had lots of fun dancing the night away – and managed a good nights sleep in the end! 😉
Beverley | Pack Your Passport
February 25, 2013 at 4:32 pmOh I used to LOVE walking back the flower seller on Swanston St when I lived in Melbourne! Beautiful pictures as always Nic 🙂
Nicole
February 25, 2013 at 7:08 pmHe’s something of an institution I think.
Thank you for your kind comment, Beverley! =)
Carli
February 26, 2013 at 7:35 amBeautiful photos Nicole, love the hip hop pic. Kind of regret not lasting until sunrise now 🙂
Nicole
February 26, 2013 at 8:01 amThere is always next year! Fingers crossed it comes back. 🙂
Adam
February 26, 2013 at 10:57 amAwesome photos! I really loved Melbourne when I visited in 2006 but it was such a short visit that I didn’t have time to see much. But from what I remember, I’m not surprised to see such a hip, cool event take place there! Love your photo of the shadow kiss.
Nicole
February 27, 2013 at 8:34 amThanks Adam!
Hope you can come back to Melbourne to explore soon. It really does have a fun arts vibe and would be perfect for your hipster city guides *hint hint* hehe 🙂
fotoeins | Henry
February 26, 2013 at 11:04 amI love your shots, Nicole: a walking-traveling-photographic diary of a night out in Melbourne, and I love how beautiful the city looks under lights. Did you take the entire series of photographs on a single night? If so, you must have slept well the following day!
Nicole
February 27, 2013 at 8:36 amHi Henry,
Thank you for your kind words!
Yes, I did take all of the photos on one night. White Night runs from 7pm until 7am so had a very long sleep after. Thankfully the majority of Melbourne’s events were within a 6-block radius so you didn’t have to walk far to uncover something new… there was just too much to choose from!
Sofie
February 27, 2013 at 9:28 pmSuch inviting pictures!
I’ve been wanting to go to Australia in general for some time, but this posts might’ve put Melbourne at the top of my ‘Australia cities I want to visit’ list:)
Nicole
March 5, 2013 at 10:39 amGlad to hear Melbourne is now up the top your list! It is truly a fascinating city full of art, culture and (more for the blokes) sport!
Hope you get to Australia soon. 🙂
Jessica
March 4, 2013 at 10:21 amSo cool! I absolutely love all the lit-up buildings. The knitted one is amazing.
Nicole
March 5, 2013 at 10:04 amThanks, Jessica! I loved the knitted buildings as well. 🙂
Ann
March 10, 2013 at 12:37 pmI went to white night too! It was awesome! 🙂 lovely pics 🙂
here are some of mine http://heyliao.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/white-night-melbourne.html
Kristin Addis
March 10, 2013 at 7:13 pmGreat photos! I wish I had taken the initiative to get some like this myself! I really loved the lit up and moving building facades. Looking forward to meeting up with you soon!
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March 18, 2013 at 11:57 pm[…] Melbourne is a known as both a center for business and finance as well as a diverse arts and theater scene. It’s not even close to the size of NYC, but relatively speaking, Melbourne is Australia’s closest relative to the Big Apple. Don’t take my word for it, check out Bitten by the Travel Bug Nicole’s latest post about Melbourne. […]