Bringing some much-needed cheer into the new year, Lumiere London 2016 was the biggest light festival to ever hit the capital with illuminations by international artists transforming 30 iconic locations across the city.
Desperate to trip the light fantastic, we braved the crowds to capture some of the best light sculptures and interactive installations of the festival. Check them out below!
1.8 London by Janet Echelman / Studio Echelman
Hanging in the centre of Oxford Circus was Janet Echelman’s spectacular ‘1.8 London’. This enormous net sculpture was inspired by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami of 2011. Echelman turned data from NASA into a 3D creation using fishing nets. The public were invited to play with the sculpture using a unique app - created by Atom Bank - which manipulated the light and patterns projected onto it.
IFO (Identified Flying Object) by Jacques Rival
Jacques Rival’s spectacular installation, IFO (Identified Flying Object) stands at a staggering nine meters in height. A sort of neon lit birdcage, it invites commuters to walk through its bars and enjoy the swing in its centre.
Let's Pretend - Tim Etchells
Part of an exhibition of three neon works by Etchells for Bloomberg SPACE. This work shows how through simple phrases spelt out in LED, Etchells creates miniature narratives, moments of confusion, awkwardness and reflection in public settings.
MORE NOISE by Tim Etchells
Part of Etchell's exhibition for Bloomberg SPACE, these 14 scattered and interconnected neon signs each read ‘MORE NOISE’ and “THAN SIGNAL’. This invokes the idea of sound, playing on Etchells' interest in the relation between pattern, order, disorder, sense and nonsense.
Ganton Street
Ceilings of bulbs continuously cycling through various colours, connecting Ganton St. to Kingly St.
Carnaby Street
Amongst all the pieces of work scattered across London, Carnaby Street was lucky enough to get its own neon sign based on their recently re-branded typeface.
SHAIDA WALKING. 2015 by Julian Opie
Taking pride of place amongst the bustling streets of the Carnaby Street area, Opie created a bespoke double-sided LED monolith piece which plays with light and animation to create a digitised ‘walking portrait’. The legacy work, situated on Broadwick Street, facing Carnaby Street, is drawn with bold simple lines and appears to be continuously walking, reflecting Carnaby’s high footfall destination.