Let There Be Light…
19th January 2016
On Sunday night I, like soooo many others, braved the Arctic weather conditions and spent the evening looking up at the skies in central London. Don’t worry, you didn’t miss some amazing astronomical event, although the display put on by London’s Lumière Festival was pretty mind blowing! Featuring installations from 30 artists, London was lit up with bold colours, mesmerising shapes and comical light shows.
Dotted around several London landmarks, the city became a huge urban gallery, with crowds of both tourists and locals ‘ooing’ and ‘ahhing’ over these incredible constructions. Here are some of my favourites…
1.8 London by Janet Echelman
This piece not only looked so cool, but the story behind it is also really interesting. It was named after the impact of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami in 2011 when the vibrations were so strong it caused the earth’s rotation to speed up and shortened the day by 1.8 seconds. Echelman used data from NASA and transformed it into this memorising 3D image looming above Oxford Street.
Circus of Light by Ocubo
St Martins became the perfect projector screen for this extraordinary circus show. We were promised that a “magical animated world of music and mayhem will descend on Granary Square” and it definitely delivered!
Les Voyageurs (The Travellers) by Cédric Le Borgne
I loved looking up and discovering these little guys dotted around the city, sitting on rooftops or even in mid-flight it felt magical yet beautifully real at the same time.
Luminéoles by Porté par le vent
These amazing kite fish were dancing over the streets in Piccadilly. Their puppeteers were even dressed in stunning oriental clothing…and a big padded coat.
