PARIS.- When the sun sets on Saturday October 4th, Paris itself will become a canvas for the creative talent of an eclectic group of artists from across the world. From dusk until dawn, visitors and residents of the French capital – which welcomed some two million people at the 2013 edition – will be able to enjoy some 150 works of art installed along an art trail concentrated in the centre and on the left-bank of Paris and referred to as the “Grande Randonnée Artistique”, a name inspired by France’s “Grande Randonnée” hiking paths. Over 40 of the art world’s hottest talents in theatre, dance, music, painting, sculpture and contemporary street art have been commissioned to bring the art trail to life and the itinerary includes six dedicated viewpoints from which to enjoy the unique artworks. The artists whose work will be shown include:

• Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi, whose ‘Flowers of Blood’ installation recently transformed the rooftop of the MOMA, in New York

• French performance artist Chloé Moglia, who will appear to be dancing in thin air

• American artist Mark Jenkins, whose hyper-realistic human sculptures will be installed in unexpected positions along the art trail

• British Turner Prize winner Antony Gormley, who created the monumental Angel of the North sculpture in the UK and whose Another Time installation on the roof of a Sorbonne university building will see a lone human statue facing the immense Pantheon building on Nuit Blanche

• Internationally renowned street-artists like Swoon, SpY, Borondo, Tristan Eaton and Thomas Canto, whose work will decorate the art trail

• American techno pioneer Jeff Mills, whose DJ set will bring to life the bal populaire entitled ‘Together Is Better’, a public dance which will sample not only contemporary music but also popular dance tunes right back to the middle ages via disco and swing

“Expect the unexpected” is the motto for this year’s edition and, in addition to discovering extraordinary artwork, the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, and José-Manuel Gonçalvès, the artistic director for this year’s edition, want Parisians and visitors at Nuit Blanche 2014 to discover some lesser-known Parisian neighbourhoods. These include the15th arrondissement where artists will perform gravity-defying shows along the disused railway line known as the Petite Ceinture, as well as the 13th arrondissement which will host a museum of contemporary street art.