Ottawa experienced its first ever Nuit Blanche on Saturday, an all-night arts and culture festival that has taken hold in cities worldwide.

From 6:22 p.m. to 4:23 a.m., public and private spaces were transformed, primarily in three zones — the ByWard Market, Hintonburg and a Kids Zone in Hintonburg and Parkdale Park — and at a few other locations throughout the city.

Ahead of Saturday, CBC News reporters Kate Porter and Laurie Fagan gave us sneak peeks of some of the projects in the following audio slideshows, and you'll find them below. We've also created a photo gallery and collected tweets from the event.

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Under the bridge

The plaza bridge was lit up with video projections and music on Saturday night. The CBC's Kate Porter followed musician Dominique Saint-Pierre and video artist Shaun Elie as they prepared a multimedia ode to the area's rivers.

(Photos from Kate Porter and Shaun Elie)

The iceberg project

Lori Victor's sculpture, hanging over The Rectory's entrance in downtown Ottawa, was meant to confront viewers with the collapse of nature due to climate change. She spoke to Laurie Fagan about the concept and the process.

A herd of elephants

The courtyard at Planet Coffee on York Street was home to Ottawa artist Christopher Griffin's playful herd of 17 concrete elephants. The installation was inspired by a trip to India where he saw elephants in the wild and his own experience crafting child-like pachyderms from clay at an Indian foundry. As Griffin told Laurie Fagan, he hoped it would make children of all ages smile.

Recreating Café Wim

As a teenager, Jaclyn Meloche's hangout was Café Wim on Sussex Drive. She spoke with Kate Porter about her nostalgia for the poetry readings that took place at the former café, and how she plans to recreate them for Nuit Blanche.

(Photos from Kate Porter, Iris ten Holder, Ann Cavlovic and Laurie Gough)