The largest lights installation in the capital, ‘The Spirit of Christmas’ returns to London’s most iconic shopping street onThursday 15th November, with a magical, festive celebration of the switch-on moment.
MARYLEBONE VILLAGE LAUNCHES ‘A MERRY MARYLEBONE CHRISTMAS’
Festivities kick-off with the annual Christmas Lights Switch on
14th November 2018
Embark on a multi-sensory experience where perception-shifting light design intersects with innovative low-calorie cocktails produced by some of the world’s most influential bartenders.
Bigger, brighter and bolder, the Lumiere London light festival returns for a spectacular second edition. More than 50 artworks reimagine London’s architecture and streets, transforming the city into a dazzling nocturnal art exhibition. The UK’s largest light festival is free to visit and takes place north and south of the river Thames. Everyone is invited!
Magical Lantern Festival London is back and it's bigger, better and so much more impressive than last year! The stunning landscaped grounds of Chiswick House & Gardens plays host again to the festival.
See the Gardens light up for an unforgettable after-dark festive trail of lights. 22 November 2017 to 1 January 2018.
The Spirit of Christmas returns to London’s most iconic street on Thursday 16th November, with a magical, festive celebration to mark the switch-on of the capital’s largest Christmas lighting scheme.
Regent Street, London’s premiere shopping and lifestyle destination, will this year see the launch of a brand new Christmas Lights scheme that is most ambitious and exciting to date.
Named ‘The Spirit of Christmas’, the scheme unites Regent Street’s world-class retailers and restaurants under a grand, sweeping canopy of light that stretches from Langham Place all the way to Waterloo Place at the southern end of Regent Street St James’s. With complementary schemes across Jermyn Street and at the newly-completed St James’s Market, this will be the largest Christmas lights scheme in Central London this Christmas, and is the largest scheme ever embarked on by Regent Street.
A sculptural masterpiece, the scheme takes its inspiration from the very first central London Christmas lights scheme, which was introduced on Regent Street in 1954 and which featured traditional angels. This year’s scheme is a dramatic and modern reimagining of those very first Christmas lights, featuring a fleet of impressively large-scale Spirits that soar along the length of the street and reference contemporary art, culture and British design.
The installation of the lights began on Sunday 16th October and the switch-on event will take place on Thursday 17th November, which will include live entertainment and unique on-street experiences for all visitors.
The museum of lost sounds explores the dark and lost borders of music, sound, art and film in partnership with Illuminations Festival.
The evening includes:
A special live performance by acclaimed producer, Forest Swords, debuting Shrine, a new experimental dance piece. Much of the show's score is made up of breath and body sounds, processed and sequenced to create a claustrophobic sound world of texture and physical rhythm.
London experimental musician, Cosmo Sheldrake, will play a new set, incorporating elements from the Museum of London's sound archive.
Sarah Angliss is a composer, performer, roboticist and sound historian. She will be previewing her forthcoming solo album, Ealing Feeder, performing with percussionist, Stephen Hiscock.
With visuals by Rian Crabtree and more guest performances still to be announced.
Plus:
Sonic installations in the smallest pub in London, the Deed and Prosper, hosted by broadcaster, DJ and music curator, Nick Luscombe (BBC Radio 3 Late Junction) and Steve Hellier (maker of noise and original founder member of Death in Vegas).
London Whispers, an installation by sound artist, designer, and electronic musician Yuri Suzuki. His ‘whispering objects’ bring to life a secret London filled with captivating stories from London’s past.
Lume, an interactive light installation by artist Chris Shen.
School of Noise workshops and interactive performances inviting you to play on mini modular synthesizers, music boxes, drum machines, paper record players and more.
Heart of London Business Alliance Presents
as part of the ‘Pause and Play Festival’
Leicester Square, Autumn 2016
Light up singing seesaws: ‘Impulse’ first showcased at Montreal’s Luminotheìrapie festival, arrives in London’s Leicester Square Gardens, 5 – 27 October 2016
Ph Credit: Ulysse Lemeryse / OSA
Heart of London Business Alliance is delighted to bring a new installation to Leicester Square Gardens with ‘Impulse’. Part of the “Pause and Play” Series, ‘Impulse’ comprises 15 interactive acoustic, light up seesaws that will illuminate and produce sound when in motion.
Following on from the success of Swept Up in October 2015, Heart of London has collaborated with 4 Our Creative Arts to present Pause and Play: a programme of changing world-class artistic and often interactive installations, never before seen in London, that will run from October 2016 through into 2017.
Emma Huckerby, Destination Marketing, commented: “Heart of London Business Alliance aims to bring events that reflect the creative and theatrical nature of the area, encouraging the community and visitors to enjoy the Square and appreciate the Gardens. We feel Impulse does just this.”
Stephan Dowers, 4 Our Creative Arts added: “We seek artists with works that are surprising, diverse, engaging, fresh and fun to reflect the tone of Leicester Square and it’s 1.5million weekly visitors. Impulse delivers exactly that.”
5-27 October: Impulse, 15 interactive and luminous seesaws
Impulse will transform Leicester Square into a space of urban play through a series of interactive acoustic illuminated seesaws that respond and transform when in motion. The seesaws form repetitive units of light and sound that can be activated and played by the public to create a temporal, ever-changing event. Impulse embodies ideas of serialism, repetition, and variation to produce zones of intensity and calm.
When not in use, the seesaws stabilize to the horizontal and remain at a lower glowing level. When activated by users and inclined, the seesaws, wired to LED lights and a speaker, will augment in light intensification and emit a sound sequence. The vertical motion creates a dynamic light and sound wave. Impulse is an ever-changing urban instrument.
The installation, commissioned by Heart of London Business Alliance and supported by Westminster City Council, is free to visit.
Pause and Play Series:
Impulse @ Leicester Square Gardens
Date: 5th - 27th October 2016*
Times: Open daily, park hours
Where: London, WC2H 7JY
Admission: FREE
