please empty your brain below
They were practising on Wednesday (or doing a soft launch!) because a friend and I were rather startled by noticing the back end of the elephant high in the air! It's quite a jolly thing to stumble upon unexpectedly :-)

mighty mouse | 15.01.16 - 7:24 a.m. | #

That's a fair swathe of them ticked off, dg! Getting the tube between Kings Cross and the central section is sensible, as is from Bond Street down to Westminster to see the Abbey. I got there around 10 and there were just a handful of people around - which meant it was easy to get nice shots reflected in a puddle.

Circus of Light is impressive and big, but I felt it would have been better if it interacted with the building more - I think that's what makes The Light of the Spirit so good: it colours in (in gaudy colours) what's already there.

I think Keyframes was probably my favourite piece - especially when it went into video games mode.

martin | 15.01.16 - 7:45 a.m. | #

Kudos for cranking around all of those DG. It's going to be rammed at the weekend.

Shame you missed Westminster Abbey as it looks rather beautiful.

Kevin | 15.01.16 - 7:46 a.m. | #

I may be on my own on this (my opinions tend to be "non-mainstream" at times)...but I think the "Centre Point" lights belong on, lets think about it for a moment, ...ah yes, a certain building known by many as (wait for it) Centre Point!

Grumpy Anon | 15.01.16 - 8:09 a.m. | #

Will the Centrepoint lights be returned to the building eventually (or replaced), or have they been removed for good?

Andrew | 15.01.16 - 8:41 a.m. | #

The Centre Point lights are "temporarily positioned".

Having been taken down whilst Almacantar, the property development and investment company, transform the building into a new residential, restaurant and retail destination, the iconic lights now take pride of place at the centre of the capital.

diamond geezer | Homepage | 15.01.16 - 9:15 a.m. | #

Thanks dg for the heads up on this festival a little while back.

Managed to walk round everything except King's Cross at leisurely pace by 22:30, though did get to Platonic Spin with minutes to spare - easy to miss that one as it is in fact within the large commercial development North of the Euston Road.

Shame you missed The Light of the Spirit and Aquarium - I thought they were rather brilliant!

Sunday and King's Cross await!

Michael T | 15.01.16 - 9:51 a.m. | #

BTW, it would have been nice to see the Centre Point Lights at the actual 'central point', but I think they got pretty close considering the traffic chaos that would otherwise have ensued.

Michael T | 15.01.16 - 9:55 a.m. | #

Pity you missed Westminster Abbey, DG. That shot of it (thanks, Kevin) looks as if it might have appeared in Mediaeval times.

Otherwise thanks, DG, for going and photographing for the benefit of those of us who won't be going to see for ourselves.

Bronchitikat | Homepage | 15.01.16 - 10:28 a.m. | #

Here are my pictures, including a few of Westminster Abbey:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/teflon/sets/72157661229566703

martin | 15.01.16 - 10:34 a.m. | #

Turns out I was way too efficient in my planning - they hadn't worked out how to turn on the Centre Point lights while I was in Trafalgar Square so they were a let down. In fact I'd say the Trafalgar Square cluster is the weakest of all, the Piccadilly / Regent Street ones being much better.

lockedintheattic | 15.01.16 - 1:54 p.m. | #

No, don't skip the aquarium. It was worth seeing, but you can imagine how busy it is with people all around it and the occasional person deciding they want their selfie in front of it.

Number 10 - I did go to see if there was anything there although the app told me there wasn't but I was not sure if it was correct.

I saw all of them last night - photos and write-up here: http://jenikya.com/blog/2016/01/lumiere-london.html

jenn | Homepage | 15.01.16 - 3:28 p.m. | #

Also, I started at westminster - they turned it on about 15 minutes early. Then I walked to Trafalgar/Leicester Sq/Piccadilly and then to Mayfair and back to Oxford Circus area. Then got the Victoria to warren street to see the one there before walking to king's cross to see them all there. The busiest were earlier in the evening with the ones on Piccadilly. By the time I got to King's Cross, it was fairly quiet.

'POINT' as lit and they just got 'CENTRE' working while I was there, but I also had issues with people taking selfies in front of one letter… it would look much better if they stood back and got them. Lucky, the guard made people stand back although he kept playing 'Buckingham palace guard' and got in front of the words a lot.

The one I was disappointed with not getting good photos of was the goldfish one. And I did manage some decent photos of the st. james' square.

http://jenikya.com/blog/2016/01/lumiere-london.html

jenn | Homepage | 15.01.16 - 3:34 p.m. | #

I did the south tonight. Westminster Abbey is stunning. Very clever. North bit tomorrow.
They lit Centre Point up for me, and people were kindly standing back!

Scrumpy | 16.01.16 - 12:55 a.m. | #

One of the best public art events in London I've ever attended.

My favourite work was Les Voyageurs. This stretches all the way along Jermyn St as well as St James and I'd recommend starting there behind Fortnam and Mason.

Dan | 16.01.16 - 7:42 a.m. | #

>>"You've missed one."

A slightly baffling assumption. I went along on Thursday, and it seems a few others here did too.

Richard M | 16.01.16 - 5:08 p.m. | #

On Thursday we saw King's Cross and Mayfair but stopped short of the West End due to the cold. Last night we completed the set - two favourites are The Light of the Spirit and Garden of Light.

Compared with Thursday, yesterday there were many times the number of people. In some cases it was difficult to move and we were stuck in a crush at Piccadilly Circus for a good 15 minutes, waiting to cross the road. I heard that others were queuing for 30 minutes to get into Grosvenor Square; on Thursday we walked straight in.

A great exhibition overall but it was perhaps too heavily promoted and too popular.

Rob | 17.01.16 - 11:50 a.m. | #

The bird cage and swing at King's Cross is an existing/permanent fixture - or at least I have photos of it from March. Nice to know what it's called.

s | 18.01.16 - 10:42 a.m. | #

Jane's thorough and considered review: http://www.janeslondon.com/2016/01/london-lumiere-review.html

diamond geezer | Homepage | 19.01.16 - 6:43 p.m. | #











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