Hugo Bonamin's Nuit Blanche Installation Transforms Saint-Merri

For Nuit Blanche on October 1, 2005, the church of Saint-Merri in Paris was transformed by an installation by Franco-Argentine artist Hugo Bonamin (born 1979). Inside, wooden and straw chairs were stacked into scaffolding at the back of the nave, while organ music—playful or martial—encouraged movement rather than contemplation. The work reimagined the church as a space integrated into daily life, recalling its medieval past when the nave and narthex were separated by a street or the transept served as a passage. Outside, along the north wall, Bonamin installed 'Épisode de la lutte,' a garland of colorful cut-out silhouettes in theatrical poses evoking physical or verbal combat, reminiscent of sacred mystery plays performed on church parvis. The piece mirrored the Nuit Blanche crowd, observing history's repetitions. The installation used only existing furniture and highlighted the church's composite architecture and history of adjustments and reconstructions.