September 14, 2026

THE SKYFRAME AWARDS RETURN: FIVE NEW VISIONS FOR LONDON’S SKY

A one-of-a-kind opportunity for the next generation of digital artists, on a canvas that belongs to the whole city.

Skyframe London is the name of the 180m² suspended LED ceiling at Fen Court in the City of London, just around the corner from Leadenhall Market, and sharing its neighbourhood with famous landmarks such as the Lloyd’s building, the Walkie-Talkie and 40 Leadenhall, another of our projects. The screen was installed by The Story Engineers in 2018 and now curated by us, in partnership with Generali Real Estate and BNP Paribas Real Estate.

Its 2025 rebrand turned the passageway from a passive installation into a recognisable public landmark, one that invites people to interact with it directly. This was seen with Skyframe Piano, the first public piano that generates reactive and unique skyscapes.

Going a step further, The Skyframe Awards also launched in 2025, inviting young art students from top UK universities, such as University for Creative Arts (Farnham), University College London and Goldsmiths, University of London, to design original digital artwork of their own for the screen.

The initiative returned this year, and will continue annually. It is now joined by a sister programme, the Skyframe Academy, offering longer-form workshops, technical training and mentorship for students working with the display.

This year’s finalists span different backgrounds, from animation and classical painting to game design and cinematography, and each was given a brief built around the theme: Depth & Light: Vanishing and Appearing. The Skyframe Awards invites artists of any discipline to create digital work for the screen, and this year that came together in five final pieces:

Alex Hughes – “Tunnel Lights”
Annie Wang – “Head in the Clouds”
Isobel Yit Ling May – “Lonely Light Show”
Mem Barlow – “A Moment to Breathe”
Peige Yu – “Travel Stories”

For most of them, this was the first major commission they had worked on outside of university, and the first time they had exhibited at this scale. For Mem Barlow, having already created work for the screen through Skyframe Academy, this was a chance to build on that experience in front of a public audience for the first time.

Over the course of a month, we supported the participants’ creative process. This was achieved by providing them with a visualisation tool, created in our simulator, that let them preview their work-in-progress on a digital twin of the Skyframe space before it reached the physical screen. We also ran several workshops for the students, with the participation of industry experts, one of which took place on-site, giving them the chance to test their drafts on the actual screen in person.

Once the artwork was finished, it was sent to our selection of industry expert judges for evaluation, which included Carlos Cabrera (Head of Production & Founding Partner at Scott & Irwin), Frances Darwin (Senior Creative at Journey) and Ben Sheppee (Executive Creative Director at Observatory). These judges were selected from three companies we work quite closely with, designing and delivering experiences together for some of the world’s most well-known attractions, such as the immersive galleries at The British Museum, the Delta Flight Museum and The F1 Exhibition, to name a few.

On Thursday 3rd September 2026, we wrapped the second edition of The Skyframe Awards, and gave the public its first look at five new digital pieces. The event was hosted by art advisor and curator Angie Davey, who announced Annie Wang (from UCL) as this year’s winner and Isobel Yit Ling May (from UCA) as the runner-up. The two young artists received a year’s National Art Pass from the Art Fund, and Annie, as the winner, also received the opportunity to be mentored by Frances Darwin to further develop her career.

In response to this year’s theme, I decided to play with double meaning to invite viewers to look for shapes in the clouds and contemplate uploading our consciousness “into the cloud.” With the rise of generative AI and AI slop in general, I responded with a vanishing of the real and an appearing of the uncanny.

For the visual, I wanted to create something tactile and handmade for the big screen, so I used painting in stop motion animation.

I was already humbled to have been selected as a finalist, let alone to win the top prize for my piece “Head in the Clouds.”

– Annie Wang, winner of The Skyframe Awards, 2026

Aside from networking with industry professionals and exhibiting their work for the whole city to see, the artists can also return to Skyframe as commissioned artists for the site’s seasonal media. One of last year’s participants, DNA Studio, is currently working on a Christmas art piece, which will be unveiled at the start of December 2026.

The Skyframe Awards will be back next year, with its largest edition yet and eight new finalists.

Check the event highlights reel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5X6sNa9Qm4