The 13 streets of Carnaby will welcome a permanent piece of moving art by the renowned British artist, Julian Opie to celebrate Lumiere London.
The free outdoor light festival will run from 14-17 January 2016 and will showcase the capital’s architecture through the installation of artworks in public spaces. This will be the first edition of Lumiere in London and – over the four evenings – more than 20 landmarks across the West End and Kings Cross will offer visitors and Londoners the chance to experience and explore the city in a new way.
For Carnaby, Opie – whose work is held in many major museum collections including Tate Gallery, London and MoMA, New York – has created a bespoke double-sided LED monolith piece titled ‘Shaida walking’ which plays with light and animation to create a digitised ‘walking portrait’. The legacy piece, situated on Broadwick Street, facing Carnaby Street, is drawn with bold simple lines and appears to be continuously walking, reflecting Carnaby’s high footfall destination.
Shaida walking will join other permanent art and design installations amongst the 13 streets of Carnaby, including the light bulbs and giant Socket and Plug on Ganton Street by James Glancey Design. Both pieces have the ability to change colour depending on a theme, sporting event or festival, even allowing Carnaby’s social media audience to choose which colour they would like.
