Nelly Ben Hayoun Transforms London’s West End into a Cosmic Playground
In March 2025, award-winning artist and Director of Experiences Dr Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian will transform London’s iconic West End with a groundbreaking blend of art and science during Art After Dark, an acclaimed cultural program powered by Art of London. Celebrated for her boundary-pushing work - including founding the world’s first International Space Orchestra - Ben Hayoun’s cosmic takeover cements her status as the UK’s most influential creator bridging the worlds of art, science, and community connection.
In March 2025, the West End will shift. The lights will change, the air will hum with energy, and Dr. Nelly Ben Hayoun-Stépanian will take over. The award-winning artist and Director of Experiences will blend art and science in ways few have imagined. Powered by Art of London, Art After Dark will be more than an event—it will be an experience.
At the heart of it all, Piccadilly Circus will transform. Asteroid-sized inflatable moon rocks will descend, while towering UV-reactive sculptures—including a giant Schrödinger’s cat —will line the path. These sculptures will loom along the trail, an homage to the famous quantum physics thought experiment. London, already vast and brilliant, will stretch further, reaching for the stars.
But this isn't just about spectacle. It’s about sound, about community connection. Ben Hayoun-Stépanian will send something else into the cosmos—the heartbeat of her Armenian family, the city’s voices, the recording from the West End itself. These recordings will travel 768,800 kilometers to the moon and return as part of Piccadilly Un:Plugged, a soundscape merging the personal with the infinite.
More Than an Event, It’s an Experience
Science and wonder will intertwine. Telescopes will be placed across the West End, inviting the public to gaze upward, to search for planets, for the unknown. Astronomers, musicians, and visionaries will come together, forming a bridge between Earth and the cosmos, a conversation carried in light and sound.
Timed with International Women’s Day, the event will elevate female and non-binary voices—scientists, musicians, and artists—who will shape this grand celestial dialogue. Inclusivity, sustainability, and global collaboration will stand at the core, not as themes but as the foundation of this vision.
Beyond Piccadilly, Art After Dark will extend its reach. Space-themed ceramic works, crafted with local youth, will fill Cabinet of Curiosities in St. James’s Market Pavilion. An animated short film by Ben Hayoun-Stépanian will light up Piccadilly’s iconic screens, guiding viewers from ocean depths to the vast unknown. Late-night gallery openings at the National Portrait Gallery, the National Gallery, and the Royal Academy of Arts will keep the city awake, offering new ways to see, feel, and engage.
This is not just an exhibition, not just a festival. It is a moment to step beyond the known, to imagine, to question, to wonder. For three nights in March, London will shift. And those who take part will never see it quite the same way again.
Mark the dates—March 6th to 8th, 2025. The city will change, and so will you.
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