La Nuit américaine

What happens when dozens of creators and thinkers scatter across America, from New York to San Francisco, from Chicago to Los Angeles, from Texas to Alaska? In 12 months, Villa Albertine has already welcomed more than 80 residents in around 30 cities across the United States, who have brought back impactful experiences and inspiring reflections; 80 are preparing to embark in the coming months, each for a tailor-made exploratory project.
 

On November 17 from 6:30pm to 11pm, a hundred of these residents—visual artists, filmmakers, writers, choreographers, musicians, architects, designers, and more—will stop by the Musée d’Orsay, to propose an unprecedented exploration of the United States through multiple formats, all inspired by their residencies. They will be joined by leading American experts and cultural figures, notably Glenn D. Lowry, Director of MoMA in New York, and Katherine E. Fleming, President of the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
 

Sit down with a resident for a 10-minute on-on-one exchange, experience choreographer Nacera Belaza’s voyage across America through dance, immerse yourself in the sounds of New York recorded by composer Michel Risse, marvel at the variations in the color of the Mississippi River with photographer Nicolas Floc’h, move to the sound of the voice and double bass of Sélène Saint-Aimé back from La New Orleans, sojourn to Alaska with archaeologist Claire Houmard who is working with the Yupik population to rediscover their heritage threatened by climate change, explore 11 American cities through the eyes of illustrators from The Parisianer collective, dance under the nave of the Musée d’Orsay to a DJ set by Zimmer… La Nuit Américaine celebrates creation and creators, and opens up new perspectives on the United States of today.
 

Get your ticket!

To book your tickets, please click on this link. Choose the amount of tickets you wish to book in the following category “Late opening rate on Thursdays“, add them to cart and proceed to payment. 12€ / Free for visitors under 26 years old.

Note that the 6pm and 6:30pm time slots are sold out. Spots remain available for the 7pm, 7:30pm, and 8pm time slots.

This event, co-presented by Villa Albertine and the Musée d’Orsay, is supported by FACE Foundation, the primary American partner of Villa Albertine, in conjunction with all of its other partners, notably the Bettencourt Schueller Foundation, the Fonds de Dotation Transatlantique, diptyque and Van Cleef & Arpels. France Culture is also a partner of La Nuit Américaine.

Program

DJ set

Under the nave, 6:30pm

Between disco, house, and alternative pop, Zimmer will immerse the nave of the museum in a sound journey inspired by California, where he spent his childhood and where he returns to nurture musical collaborations.

Musical impromptu

Under the nave, 6:55pm

Marina Chiche (concert violonist, musicologist, radio producer, writer, resident) will perform Gershwin as an introduction to this great evening

Inaugural roundtable: Is the museum of the future American?

Under the nave, 7pm (45 min)

Two exceptional guests: Glenn D. Lowry (Director of MoMA, New York) and Katherine E. Fleming (President and CEO of the Getty Center, Los Angeles)

Moderated by Arnaud Laporte (Producer of the Cultural Affairs program on France Culture Radio)

Face-to-face meeting with a resident

Dome rooms, 7-10pm

In a direct exchange, two visitors will speak with a resident for 10 minutes about their journey and residency project.

Performances

Under the nave, 8-10pm

8pm (1 hour) – La Nuit, Le Cercle, Sur le fil – a choreographic journey developed by Nacera Belaza around gestures and rituals that are at the heart of her work and her residency, from the desert of the Great American West to the Midwest

9pm (30 min) – Concert by Sélène Saint-Aimé (double bass and vocals), inspired by the sounds of the Caribbean and New Orleans

9:30pm (30 min) – I-3 – a choreographic performance by Hamid Ben Mahi that questions the relationship between residents and architecture, the subject of an international exploration carried out with Christophe Hutin from Venice to Detroit, where they will be in residence together in 2023.

Residencies in images

Small Auditorium, 8:15-10pm

For 45 minutes, immerse yourself in the visual universe of two Villa Albertine residencies: a descent of the Mississippi that lasted 6 months and spanned more than 20,000 kilometers to try and capture the color of the water, and a four-year residency in Quinhagak on the Bering Strait at the border of Alaska, where accelerated global warming both reveals and threatens an exceptional archaeological heritage.

8:15pm (45 min) – Ocean River, the color of water – a journey along the Mississippi by Nicolas Floc’h (photographer and visual artist, Villa Albertine resident) in conversation with Mikaël Mohamed (president of the Camargo association, head of international relations at MuCEM)

9pm (45 min) – Resilience in the way of Alaska’s Yup’ik by Claire Houmard (archaeologist, Villa Albertine resident) in conversation with Edouard Jacquot (heritage curator at the Regional Archeology Service of Ile-de -France)

Guided tour

Permanent collections at 8:30pm (1 hour)

A journey through the collections of the Musée d’Orsay led by Anne Lafont, art historian and Villa Albertine resident

Micro-conferences: The USA in 10 minutes

On the nave medians , 7:30-10pm

In 10 minutes, residents and invited experts will explore an aspect of the American territory or society today.

10 cities through the eyes of residents

– ATLANTA or the identity in question by Essé Dabla-Attikpo (curator, resident)

– MIAMI or the Creole Babel by Simone Lagrand (poet, resident)

– LOS ANGELES or artificial intelligence at the service of creation by Simon Bouisson (author and filmmaker, resident)

– NEW YORK or design as a heritage by Robin Bourgeois (industrial and furniture designer, resident)

– SAN FRANCISCO or the Queer question by Hélène Giannecchini (writer, resident)

– CHICAGO or the popular memory of the city by Chayma Drira (freelance researcher and journalist, resident)

– BOSTON or the man-machines by Mathieu Pradat (author and director, resident)

– WASHINGTON DC or the transformation of museums by Olivia Voisin (director of Orléans museums, resident)

– MARFA or the new imagination of space by Jean-Philippe Uzan (cosmologist, resident)

– NEW ORLEANS or the energy of Southern culture by Loo Hui Phang (author, resident) and Joseph d’Anvers (author, composer and performer, resident)

10 questions to spark debate

Researchers and cultural figures will try to answer deliberately provocative questions that implicitly address the differences between French and American societal models:

– Is there an ecological imagination in the United States? by Catherine Larrère (philosopher)

– How did abortion become a political issue again in the United States? by Eric Fassin (sociologist)

– Is American democracy in danger? by Romain Huret (historian)

– Has America got it all about universalism? by Magali Bessone (philosopher)

– Has the power of GAFAM crushed everything in America? by Dominique Boullier (sociologist)

– Is techno still being invented in Detroit? by Jacqueline Caux (filmmaker)

– What do American universities teach us about the democratization of knowledge? by Séverine C. Martin (director of Columbia University programs in Paris)

– Is there still an independent cinema in the United States? by Rebecca Leffler (journalist)

– Is American literature still interesting? by Caroline Ast (Belfond editor-in-chief)

– Is America still the beating heart of the globalization of art? by Anne-Claudie Coric (executive director of Templon gallery)

Installations

In the nave, discover the collaboration between Villa Albertine and The Parisianer, a collective of French illustrators who pay homage to the famous covers of The New Yorker, through 11 original creations that invite you to rediscover as many American cities through the eyes of Villa Albertine residents.

Artist Raphaël Barontini, a 2023 Villa Albertine resident, will present his Heroes: Black centurion, 2019, a work representing a black hero of antiquity and Le Couronnement, 2017 – facing the monumental paintings of Kehinde Wiley.

Reading room

Take a break during la Nuit Américaine to preview States, Villa Albertine’s creative magazine. The first issue of States will launch on January 1, 2023, in the United States. 40 international authors – including 15 residents – and 30 illustrators have collaborated on this first opus in English, which will invite you to extend your explorations of la Nuit Américaine through 240 richly illustrated pages.

At the same time, immerse yourself in the sound universe of New York by listening to the noises and sounds of the city recorded by Michel Risse as part of the residency of his company Décor Sonore.

DJ set

At 10pm, under the nave

Between disco, house, and alternative pop, Zimmer will immerse the nave of the museum in a sound journey inspired by California, where he spent his childhood and where he returns to nurture musical collaborations.

Detailed program for mobile

Residents attending the Nuit américaine

With: Sameer Ahmad (rap artist, musician, speaker), Anne-Laure Amilhat-Szary (professor, political photographer), Ugo Arsac (video and visual artist), Pierre-Antoine Badaroux (musician), Claire Bardainne (artist, artistic director), Andrés Baron (video artist), Raphaël Barontini (visual artist), Nacera Belaza (choreographer), Hamid Ben Mahi (choreographer), Abdelhak Benallou (painter), Chloé Bensahel (textile artist), Mathilde Billet (architect), Sasha J. Blondeau (composer), Léna Blou (dancer, choreographer, with a PhD in dance anthropology), Simon Bouisson (writer, filmmaker), Robin Bourgeois (industrial and furniture designer), Diane Sara Bouzgarrou (filmmaker), Jennifer Buyck (architect), Diane Cescutti (visual artist), Fréderic Chartier (architect), François Chastanet (architect, graphic & type designer, documentary author), Alice Chemama (artist, writer), Marina Chiche (concert violinist, musicologist, radio producer, writer), Aya Cissoko (boxer, actress, writer, filmmaker), Essé Dabla-Attikpo (curator), Joseph d’Anvers writer, singer-songwriter, novelist), Pascale Dalix (architect), Chayma Drira (researcher, independent journalist), Charlotte Fauve (journalist), Nicolas Floc’h (photographer, visual artist), Hélène Giannecchini (writer), Halory Goerger (stage director), Aymeric Hainaux (beatboxer), Léa Hirschfeld (podcaster, writer), Elizabeth Hong (designer), Claire Houmard (archaeologist), Anthony Jammes (architect), Chloé Jarry (producer), Thomas Jenkoe (filmmaker), Aude-Émilie Judaïque (journalist), Euridice Zaituna Kala (visual artist), Wanjiru Kamuyu (choreographer, dancer, performer), Bamar Kane (actor, writer, filmmaker), Marame Kane (graphic novelist), Dirk Korell (dramaturge), Anne Lafont (art historian), Simone Lagrand (poétesse-pawolèz), Nina Leger (writer), Sophie Letourneur (filmmaker), Fanny Liatard (filmmaker), Loo Hui Phang (writer), Marie Losier (filmmaker), Valérie Massadian (filmmaker), Roula Matar (art historian, architect), Ariane Michel (visual artist, filmmaker), Myriam Mihindou (visual artist), Raphaël Millet (filmmaker), Elise Morin (visual artist), Isabelle Olivier (composer, harpist), Sara Ouhaddou (visual artist), Manuela Paul-Cavallier (artisan, creator of golden reflections), Mathieu Pradat (author, director), Laure Pressac (exhibition curator, researcher), François-Xavier Richard (craftsman), Michel Risse (artistic director),  Roque Rivas (composer), Constance Rivière (author), Tiss Rodriguez (musician), Sélène Saint-Aimé (musician, composer), Marlène Saldana (choreographer, performer), Pierre-Alexandre Savriacouty (visual artist), Gwendolenn Sharp (cultural operator), Claire Simon (filmmaker), Leïla Slimani (writer), Victoire Thierrée (visual artist), Jérémy Trouilh (filmmaker), Tatiana Villala dos Santos (game designer, digital artist), Feda Wardak (architect), Paul-Aimé William (doctoral student in art history), Yolande Zauberman (filmmaker). 

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

Access: Musée d’Orsay – Esplanade Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, 75007 Paris

Transportation: Metro line 12, Solférino station – RER C Musée d’Orsay station – Bus 24, 63, 68, 69, 73, 83, 84, 94 – Vélib’ station: n. 7007, 62 rue de Lille

Prices: €10 onsite (€12 online). Free: under 18, visitors aged 18 to 25 from European Union countries

Latest admission to the museum: 10:15pm / Museum closing: 11pm

Executive production: Vivanto / Graphic design: Des Signes