Nuit Blanche and transformational publics

This article considers the impact of Nuit Blanche and participatory art on public behaviour and interaction, the quality of participant engagement in Nuit Blanche shared via social media (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, blogs), and how this phenomena might inform contemporary discussions of utopia and ‘ourtopia’. Within this context, Nuit Blanche offers an extraordinary demonstration of the mobilization of a large and diverse public actively seeking the experience of the transformation of a familiar urban fabric into a cityscape that is mutable, surreal, disruptive and, on occasion, enchanting.