Shine a ray of light

It used to be the norm that every large event opening or celebration was accompanied by a fireworks display, however this summer everything is getting illuminated. From the top of the Shard to the Olympic Park, London is putting on a series of dazzling big-budget light shows that will set the capital’s sky aflame.

When the Shard opened earlier this month, large crowds gathered across and around London Bridge to watch colourful laser beams shoot out from the skyscraper onto other city landmarks. Now, by tweeting about the Olympics, you can help decide which colours will illuminate the London Eye every night during the Games. An algorithm has been created to track all positive and negative tweets and will convert the results into a lightshow. The Eye’s wheel is also set to sparkle in gold, silver or bronze, depending on which medals Team GB have brought home that day.

Further downriver, the City of London Corporation is keeping mum about its lighting plans for Tower Bridge but it’s likely that it too will be flashing metallic colours across the water if we have big wins to celebrate.

Over at the Olympic Park you can already see Italian artist Monica Bonvicini’s towering light sculpture, RUN. At nine metres high, the three letters are as tall as a house and are illuminated at night in an alien glow.

Perhaps it’s no surprise that celebrities — always happy to chase the spotlight — have also got swept up in this luminous trend. Kate Moss is currently starring in the video for George Michael’s new single White Light. Scouting For Girls have also announced that their third album — The Light Between Us — will be out in September, while Ellie Goulding has just broken into the US charts with her debut album Lights.

So — it seems — after weeks of being shrouded in a blanket of grey, the light is finally breaking through.