Art After Dark: Piccadilly Un:Plugged

Award-winning eco-feminist artist and designer of experiences Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian Ph.D., founder of NASA’s International Space Orchestra is set to transform London’s West End into an accessible cosmic playground with a fusion of surrealist public art and space science.

For free nights, 'Piccadilly Un:Plugged' curated by Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian invites you to look beyond the city’s skyline and into the vast cosmos. With perfect timing to concide with the upcoming partial solar eclipse, get a unique chance to connect with the universe.

Expect iridescent asteroid-sized moon rocks to land in Piccadilly Circus, while two towering inflatable sculptures inspired by Schrödinger’s famous quantum physics paradox – nicknamed the ‘Cats’ – are positioned closed by in Leicester Square.

That’s not all – using cutting-edge interstellar technology, recordings made in the West End and the heartbeats of the artist’s Armenian family will journey 768,800km to the moon and back. These recordings will be received by the Lovell Telescope at Jodrell Bank Observatory, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and broadcast back to Piccadilly Circus, creating an otherworldly soundscape that connects Earth with the cosmos.

London will become a portal to explore the wonders of the night sky during ‘galaxy season’, a time when distant galaxies are at their most visible. Guided by scientists, and representatives from the SETI Institute (Search For Extraterrestrial Intelligence), the public will use UNISTELLAR’s advanced telescopes to experience breathtaking views of nebulae and planets like Jupiter, joining in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence from iconic West End locations.

The iridescent, asteroid-sized moon rocks in Piccadilly Circus don’t just dazzle the eyes—they create an immersive cosmic experience. As part of this installation, a specially curated soundtrack brings the universe to life, blending celestial sounds with the pulse of London’s West End.

Included in this playlist is a newly produced track in collaboration with the late noise artist EOBIONT (Láwû Makuriye’nt), featuring the heartbeats of women in Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian’s Armenian family for International Women’s Day. Recordings from the West End streets and institutions, produced by multi-instrumentalist Ayse Hassan (Savages, Esya), add another layer to this cosmic symphony. A series of original tracks from Nelly and the University of the Underground’s long-term collaborators, including Massive Attack, The Avalanches (feat. Blood Orange), Pussy Riot, Mirrored Fatality, and Moses Boyd, complete this sonic journey.

In loving memory of Láwû Makuriye’nt (aka EOBIONT, Mango, half of Mirrored Fatality)