Wing commander: the artist putting on a light show with 1,500 pigeons

They swoop, they soar, they light up the sky! Meet the pigeon-fancier sending his LED-wearing birds heavenwards for a hypnotic night danceYou can see them in the sky long before you get close, circling high above, wheeling and diving between each other, their wings flashing in the sunshine and making a faintly mechanical whirr each time they pass overhead. This vast flock of pigeons, flying over a disused golf course next to a sewage works on the eastern edge of London, has been assembled by Duke Riley, an American artist who has now spent months training these birds to re-enact a show that caused a storm when it hit the night skies over Brooklyn in 2016. Though genetically similar to feral pigeons, these birds are specialist varieties that were selectively bred over thousands of years for their endurance and acrobatic abilities. "Most are tipplers and rollers," says Riley. He's a compact man with blue eyes, a square jaw and hands that look as though they are used to making things. "These are the birds people fly in New York, but they're all English breeds originally." There's something knowingly old-fashioned about Riley. He wears overalls with the word "Duke" embroidered on the pocket and speaks in a hard Boston lilt. Continue reading...