L.E.O

Nuit Blanche 2017

Proposal

Brief: Nuit Blanche is an annual art event hosted in Paris, France. Throughout the metropolis, in various locations the festival showcases installation, performance, street and fine art alike. In an effort to shed light on more developing areas, and while many locations are central and accessible some artists have recently focused on utilizing abandoned and lesser visited sites throughout Paris. This sentiment calls upon the aim of this years theme being "Faire Oeuvre Commune," which roughly translates to "Making Work Together." It is meant to celebrate collective creation, whether it be collaborations between artists or citizen initiatives that move representations and perceptions.  The success achieved in Paris by Nuit Blanche since its creation in 2002, has led several capitals and major cities in Europe, but also in the world, to organize their own Nuit Blanche on the Paris model: from Brussels to Kyoto, from Melbourne to La Paz, more than 25 cities are organizing this event today.

Concept: In an effort create and exhibit that was both socially constructed as opposed to object centric, and allowed for a subjective experience, I looked to human universals. Something un-unique to the person are the concept of "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs." The purgatory of transition represented in this installation is loosely based on the human ascension process in Maslow's theory and the use of human senses. Humans' experience through their senses and therefore each layer will effect the experiencer through their sensory and emotive receptors by simply drawing the symbol of the hierarchy, a triangle, and viewing the organizational structure of the site, there is a strong diagrammatic connection. The combination of the materiality of the space and the 5 layers of experience, shapes the participants tour and hopefully evokes an intensely personal response. The intended response would be a sense of well-being and satisfaction, overcoming of the elements.