Lakwena Maciver: Rise and Shine: Art After Dark

Leading artist Lakwena Maciver will headline Art of London’s Art After Dark unveiling a towering new public artwork in Piccadilly Circus. Channelling the energy of classic sound systems and London’s influential music scene for 2026.

Evoking the spectacle and collective exhilaration of a live music festival, internationally acclaimed, London-based artist Lakwena Maciver (Tate Britain, Southbank Centre, Somerset House) will launch the programme with Rise and Shine: a landmark, 7-metre-tall tower constructed from stacked disco lightboxes. Installed at Piccadilly Circus, one of the world’s most inconic locations – it emphasises the location as both a stage and gathering point.

The soaring installation reimagines the site’s analogue heritage through kaleidoscopic colour, illuminated form, and a bespoke soundtrack inspired by community-led music culture. Its acid-bright palette and luminous surfaces reference the nightlife of the 1980s and 1990s—a formative era that shaped genres from hip-hop to drum and bass—and celebrate the social power of music as a unifying force.