In 2002 the city of Paris organised a gathering for all Parisians, tourists and visitors: La Nuit Blanche (White Night). The combination of contemporary art, heritage and a night-time stroll was immediately taken up by other European cities, and later by the rest of the world. Today, more than 20 metropolises, from Buenos Aires to Singapore, via Toronto, Oran and Skopje, follow the Parisian model in their own white nights.
For its tenth edition, which will begin at 19:00 on 1 October and last 12 hours, Paris has entrusted the staging of the event to artistic directors Alexia Fabre and Frank Lamy, who this year have chosen to cover new spaces in the city, while Karmelo Bermejo (Bilbao, 1979) will, thanks to the support of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), present in this White Night his The Grand Finale (A bank credit granted to an art gallery and used to launch fireworks at the closing ceremony of Art Basel Miami Beach 2009). It consists in a video from 2009 in which he recorded a firework performance organised for the finale of the Art Basel Miami Beach event. The firework show, which highlighted the word "recession" was funded by a bank loan administered by the Maisterravalbuena Gallery in Madrid.