Patrice Warrener's "The Light of the Spirit" illuminates Westminster Abbey from January 14-17. REUTERS/Toby Melville

A Festival of Light Transforms London Into a Canvas

  1. Aarian Marshall

See the generally dignified Westminster Abbey transmuted into a riot of a kaleidoscopic color.

The first Lumiere Festival, a celebration of light and art from the British production company Artichoke, first took place in the northern UK city of Durham in 2009. After a stop in the Northern Irish city of Derry, Lumiere is now hitting the big time: It’s arrived in the capital city, ready to brighten London’s dark, dreary, rain-spitting winter evenings with four days of strange and dazzling art.

The festival runs from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. January 14-17, and features over 30 works spread across the busy downtown areas of Piccadilly, Regent Street, and St James's; Trafalgar Square and Westminster; Mayfair; and King's Cross.

If you can’t make it London to be one of the thousands expected to view the installations, here a few of the sites (and sights):

“Garden of Light,” from the French collective TILT, in Leicester Square. The plants and flowers are made of recyclable materials and their bright lights are meant to “bring a taste of the tropics to wintry January,” according to the festival program. (REUTERS/Toby Melville)
“Les Luminéoles,” brightly colored fish illuminated by LEDs, in the Picadilly area. Installation by Porté par le vent. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
The animated “Eléphantastic!” projection in the Regent Street area. Installation by the creative design agency Top'là Design, which specializes in urban art. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
“Spinning Night in Living Colour,” in Mayfair, by Elaine Buckholz. The artist “sampled” bits of Van Gough’s “All Night Café” with a shaking video camera. The installation is accompanied by a sound score from Buckholtz and Floor van de Valde based on Bartók’s “Romanian Folk Dance no. 3.” (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
“Aquarium,” by Benedetto Bufalino and Benoit Deseille, transforms an iconic London phone booth into, yes, an aquarium full of actual fish. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
A closer view of Patrice Warrener's "The Light of the Spirit." (REUTERS/Toby Melville)

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