Ugo Rondinone light

Inspired by Rondinone’s renowned sunrisesunset watercolour paintings, the geometric flags will create a moving ribbon of colour above the street, inviting visitors to experience Bond Street in an entirely new way. Stretching the length of the destination, the installation captures the changing beauty of sunrise and sunset. 

Ugo summarised his experience of designing and creating this public art installation in his own words. "For the Royal Academy of Arts Flag Project in Mayfair, I created fifty-four flags titled LIGHT. Each flag presents a different sunrise or sunset, extending my long-running sunrise/sunset paintings into public space.

The horizon is a place of transition; where light appears and disappears, where one state becomes another. Sunrise and sunset are among the few experiences shared by every human being across time and geography. They belong to no single culture, language, or nation. They are universal images of passage, repetition, and change. An eternal rhythm.

Installed across Mayfair, the work unfolds through movement. As people walk along the streets, they pass through a sequence of shifting skies, almost as if moving through the emotional and atmospheric arc of a single day. The flags change continuously with the wind, the weather, and the light itself. No image is ever fully fixed. The work exists in a state of constant transition.

Light is not only a natural phenomenon. It is also a psychological and existential condition. It holds within it both presence and disappearance. Like breathing, it endlessly returns."

Art in Mayfair also runs alongside the Royal Academy’s annual Summer Exhibition and continues to champion the area's status as a hub for world-class art, design, and fashion. The flag installation invites visitors to engage with art beyond the Royal Academy’s walls in a truly immersive urban experience.