Lumiere London 2016: Festival of light to give starring role for actors including Idris Elba and Olivia Colman

Some of the acting world’s biggest stars will light up the Bafta building on Piccadilly as part of the first Lumiere London festival of light.

Images of actors from Bafta’s archive, including Idris Elba, Tilda Swinton, Michael Caine, Olivia Colman and Steve McQueen, will be projected on to the building’s facade during the four-night festival. It will transform the capital into an open-air art gallery.

Other locations include Westminster Abbey, which will have its west gate transformed by a digital painting, and the Granary Building at King’s Cross. A 17-metre light sculpture of a diver will be installed at the nearby King’s Cross Pond Club swimming pool.

About 30 artworks will be installed across the capital for the event, which will begin on January 14 and run from 6.30pm to 10.30pm. It aims to bring people into the capital at a traditionally quiet time of year for visitors.

Helen Marriage, the event’s curator, said: “Lumiere London promises to be an extraordinary event, showcasing artists from across the globe, working with many forms of light to transform our public spaces. Using London’s buildings as their canvas and its streets as their auditorium, these installations sit firmly in the public realm for everyone to enjoy.”

Mayor Boris Johnson said the event, based on a similar scheme run in Durham since 2009, would “transform the capital in spectacular style”.

Visitors can download a map to plan walking routes around the sites.

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