Art After Dark Returns

Art After Dark, Art of London’s free art and culture programme, returns this February!

The week-long celebration of London’s nightlife through art and music will from 3 February until 10 February, bringing together a programme of large-scale public artworks, late-night gallery openings and exclusive music experiences across the West End, including a special after-hours DJ-set at the National Gallery.

Channelling the energy and spectacle of a live music festival, internationally acclaimed London based artist Lakwena Maciver will headline and launch the programme with her landmark public artwork, Rise and Shine, a 7-metre-tall tower of stacked disco lightboxes, in Piccadilly Circus which reimagine the site’s analogue heritage through kaleidoscopic colour and a soundtrack of reggae, soul and funk, inspired by Caribbean sound systems, disco dance floors and Black British music culture. Its acid-bright visuals and illuminated forms reference the nightlife of the 1980s and 1990s, a period that influenced music genres from hip-hop to drum and bass.

Celebrating carnival culture, a programme of late-night events, including a special one-off after-hours DJ events at The National Gallery is also set to take the West End by storm. Revellers will have a rare opportunity to dance after dark with friends in one of London’s most iconic cultural institutions.

The public art will be unveiled across the West End, with new digital artworks displayed on the giant Piccadilly Lights and screens within the West End, offering a vivid backdrop for culture seekers as they stroll through the district.

Throughout the week, the West End will host late-night gallery openings, bookable art tours via Art of London Gallery Hop!, special offers and live performances at more than 30 local bars and nightclubs, including the Hard Rock Cafe and San Carlo, and an exclusive Q&A with Lakwena, in partnership with Apple Music.