Le Flash burns bright in Castleberry Hill (1)

On Oct. 2 in Castleberry Hill, a man will interrogate a house plant. Zombie films will crawl along vacant walls. Choreographed dancers will work their moves into the space of a 30-foot box truck. A swarm of cyclists will glow in the night. Up and down Peters and Walker streets, in the alleyways, on front doorsteps, from moving cars, bicycles, and pedestrians, there will be light in Castleberry Hill. For the second time, Le Flash will transform the neighborhood into a massive collaboration of light-based public art. The next morning, it will all be gone.

In the summer of 2008, Cathy Byrd and Stuart Keeler sat facing Tilt Coffee’s front window, trying to dream up a new project. After brainstorming in silence for some time, they turned to one another in a moment of simultaneous inspiration. “The words ‘Nuit Blanche’ came out of our mouths at the same time,” says Keeler, an artist and independent curator. French for “all-nighter,” Nuit Blanche is an annual nighttime arts event that began in Paris in 2002. The ambitious display calls for artists, galleries, businesses, and communities to work in concert to create a single evening of experimental celebration. Many cities have adopted their own versions, including Berlin, Madrid and Montreal. Byrd, executive director of Maryland Art Place in Baltimore, and Keeler set out to see what Atlanta could produce.

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(Image courtesy Le Flash)