Lights show in Paris' sky
Photo: AFP
Paris mounts Tel Aviv centennial salute
City of lights dedicates annual Nuit Blanche art festival to Tel Aviv. Event first in a series celebrating city's legacy, culture
Tel Aviv centennial celebrations take the city of lights: Paris' annual celebration of cultural opulence was marked with the traditional Nuit Blanche (White Night) Saturday, but this year, the celebrations also honored Tel Aviv's 100th birthday.
Dozens of the French capital's museums and galleries featured the works of 31 Israeli artists, storefront windows featured video-art exhibits by Israel's own Sigalit Landau and Michal Rovner and several book stores held readings of the works of noted Israeli authors.
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"Things went extremely well, we were definitely the talk of the town," Ziv Nevo-Kulman, the Israeli Embassy's cultural advisor told Ynet.
The Paris galleries, he added, usually refrain from taking part in Nuit Blanche events, "But they could not pass up this opportunity. The artistic director here already said he wants to visit Israel to see how he could incorporate Israeli artists in future events."
The office of the cultural attaché in Paris said that the cultural relationship between Israel and France "is an important part of the overall political relations between the two countries… culture allows to maintain strong ties and share values."
The Nuit Blanche salute is the first in France's "100% Tel Aviv" events, which include 100 cultural events, throughout France. The events will feature world renowned Israeli dance company Bat Sheva, and a cinematic retrospective featuring 80 movies about Tel Aviv, to name a few.
