MetropolitHan: Lumiere London

I think it is clear by now that I love any excuse to go tramping round the city taking photos of things. I had not quite realised until last night that I would take this opportunity even when it was COMPLETELY FREEZING, but apparently I'm insane.

I was wearing as many layers as possible when I set off and I did go for a very nice Italian dinner before it all kicked off, but still, VERY COLD.

I started off at Oxford Circus looking at 1.8 London by Janet Echelman / Studio Echelman, which is part of a series of works inspired by fishing nets (although it put me in mind of a giant jellyfish). I got there a few minutes before it switched on and it's actually impressive before the lights:

And then it switched on and we all went 'oooooooh' because it was very pretty:

Apparently it was interactive but I didn't realise that until today so no idea what the interactivity was.

After that I walked to Brown Hart Gardens, excitingly somewhere I'd never been before yesterday (that is getting quite rare for me in central London), a raised piazza sort of thing behind Oxford Street. Here there were two works by Sarah Blood, Dissect I and Dissect II and Sanctuary.

Dissect I and Dissect II are a pair of sculptures which are a simple cuboid framework supported and dissected by a neon square. Very simple but striking:

I only got photos of one as I couldn't be bothered to go to the other entrance (given that there were two entrances to Brown Hart Gardens I'm not sure why they didn't have it set up with one entrance and one exit).

Sanctuary is a work made of a dozen neon birdhouses with an accompanying soundtrack of birdsong.

I then went to Grosvenor Square where there were three installations (there were supposed to be four but the one really wanted to see - Aquarium - wasn't working), the first of which was Spinning Night in Living Colour by Elaine Buckholtz.

There were also Lightbenches by Bernd Spiecker.

And Brothers & Sisters by Ron Haselden

I started heading back to Charing Cross after this, going via Piccadilly where there were a few displays.

195 Piccadilly by NOVAK is a cinematic-themed display which came with a soundtrack (the soundtracks didn't work completely tbh, mostly due to the amount of people).

Luminéoles by Porté par le vent was lovely, a trio of large fish and flower lanterns above Piccadilly.

I Haven't Changed My Mind in a Thousand Years by Beth J Ross is rendering of 11th-century proverbs placed on either end of the Burlington Arcade.

Les Voyageurs (The Travellers) by Cédric Le Borgne were all around St James, and these were fantastic, quite spooky figures floating in the air and sitting on rooftops.

And so to Trafalgar Square, where there was only the flipping CENTRE POINT LETTERS. I was really excited to see these as I have a great fondness for Centre Point, and they seemed weirdly small (you can see people next to them in the pictures for a size comparison).