Locations for the installations set to illuminate central London next week in the capital’s first major light festival have been revealed. Lumiere London, a free outdoor light festival taking place over four evenings from 14-17 January, will feature 30 installations from leading artists.
The works are set to appear around King’s Cross, Piccadilly, Westminster, Trafalgar Square and Mayfair, and will range from simple, fun pieces, such as neon signs and figures, to large-scale projections onto buildings. Among the major attractions will be the Garden of Light in Leicester Square; produced by French art collective Tilt, the giant illuminated flowers and trees will bring a “taste of the tropics” to the city in winter.
At Oxford Circus, a net sculpture called 1.8 London by artist Janet Echelman will be strung between buildings. The name is a reference to the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011, which momentarily caused the earth’s rotation to speed up, shortening the day by 1.8 microseconds. Data from this event was used to create the sculpture and audiences will be able to interact with it, manipulating the light and patterns projected using a specially developed app.
The facade of the Liberty department store, near Oxford Circus, will feature Keyframe – animated dancing stick men – produced by French collective Groupe LAPS, while in Mayfair installations will include 12 neon birdhouses produced by artist Sarah Blood.
Other works in the festival, which will run from 6.30pm-10.30pm each evening, include a set of glowing “light benches”; a telephone box that has been converted into an aquarium full of exotic fish; a 17-metre light sculpture of a diver at King’s Cross Pond Club; illuminated figures in Mayfair; and a huge animated projection of an elephant set to run through the Regent Street area.
• visitlondon.com/lumiere
