Six renowned photographers known for their work with music legend David Bowie will gather for a one-off event at Lightroom in King’s Cross on Tuesday May 26 at 7pm.
Bowie Nights: Behind the Lens, presented by journalist and author Miranda Sawyer, will see Bowie’s collaborators Geoff MacCormack, Kevin Cummins, Richard Young, Denis O’Regan and Chris Duffy share unheard stories and images from their time working with Bowie, revealing what it was like to to add to the mystique of one of pop’s great stars.
Each photographer will be invited on stage to present their selected portraits that best capture their vision of the artist (How was he in the room? What was he trying to achieve during his great eras?). Through personal anecdotes, audiences will gain rare insight into Bowie’s creative world. The chosen photographers will also be showcased like never before on Lightroom’s state-of-the-art, four-storey projection walls.
Producer David Sabel said: “These photographers knew David Bowie at his most creative, and his most vulnerable, helping conjure the iconic looks of one of music’s great shapeshifters. This event will tell the stories of what it was like behind the scenes as the legends of the likes of Aladdin Sane and The Thin White Duke were born.”
The event is part of the Bowie Nights series at Lightroom, coinciding with the acclaimed new immersive production David Bowie: You’re Not Alone, which is showing daily.
Richard Young photographed Bowie during the Thin White Duke era including the 1976 Victoria Station arrival; Kevin Cummins began documenting Bowie in 1973 on the Ziggy Stardust tour and later compiled decades of work in David Bowie: Mixing Memory & Desire; Geoff MacCormack travelled with Bowie from 1973–76 photographing him across multiple countries; Denis O’Regan became Bowie’s official tour photographer, most notably during Serious Moonlight; Tony McGee worked with Bowie for over 30 years starting with the 1983 Serious Moonlight publicity shoot; and Chris Duffy, the son of Brian Duffy, preserves and documents Bowie’s archive of iconic sessions including Ziggy Stardust, Aladdin Sane and Scary Monsters – and who himself photographed David Bowie.
The event is part of Lightroom’s Bowie Nights season, curated to run a series of cross-disciplinary Spring and Summer events celebrating the life and work of Bowie, featuring major artists influenced by his work, from Anna Calvi to Jonathan Barnbrook to Adam Buxton. The season will run from May to September 2026. Audiences can sign up to Lightroom’s mailing list HERE for further details and first chance to purchase tickets.
Each Bowie Night will take place at Lightroom in King’s Cross, the unique immersive venue which will host the major new production David Bowie: You’re Not Alone, open now. Tickets can be found HERE.
Written and directed by 59’s Mark Grimmer (Creative Director for the V&A’s David Bowie Is exhibition) and Tom Wexler, it will showcase some of Bowie’s landmark performances that redefined popular culture, using a mixture of iconic material, selected from thousands of hours of film in the vaults of the David Bowie Archive in New York, from Space Oddity through Diamond Dogs and Let’s Dance to ★.
Audiences will have the chance to feel they have travelled through time to experience Bowie in performance – up close and first-hand. Each track in the show has been newly reconfigured to utilise Lightroom’s specialised spatial audio system by multiple Olivier and Tony award-winning sound designer Gareth Fry (Harry Potter & The Cursed Child, David Bowie Is). The show is fully authorised by the David Bowie Estate.
Buy ‘Bowie Nights’ tickets here
Buy ‘David Bowie: You’re Not Alone’ tickets here
Tickets for David Bowie: You’re Not Alone are now on sale and priced from £25 for adults and £15 for students and concessions.
Tickets are available now until 10 October 10.
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Address: [12] Lewis Cubitt Square, London, N1C 4DY
Box Office: tickets@lightroom.uk
Access: access@lightroom.uk
Website: lightroom.uk
Twitter: @_LightRoomLDN
Instagram: @_lightroomldn
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LightroomLDN
About Lightroom
Lightroom reimagines immersive experiences through groundbreaking collaborations with leading artistic talents across art, music, film, fashion, science, and more.
A joint venture between 59 Studio and London Theatre Company, Lightroom was founded in 2023 by Nick Starr CBE and its current CEO, Richard Slaney. The company is backed by investors led by Sir Leonard Blavatnik, who is represented by Danny Cohen, President of Access Entertainment and Mike Sherwood, former co-CEO of Goldman Sachs International. Lightroom’s innovative show space in London, King’s Cross was designed by 59 Studio in collaboration with Haworth Tompkins.
Lightroom’s shows are currently playing in venues across South Korea, China, the USA and in Europe via a major new partnership with Culturespaces which sees Lightroom shows presented across Culturespaces’ network of European venues.
Lightroom’s critically acclaimed shows include David Hockney: Bigger & Closer, The Moonwalkers: A Journey with Tom Hanks, and Vogue: Inventing the Runway, and Prehistoric Planet: Discovering Dinosaurs.
About 59 Studio
59, a Journey studio conceives, directs, designs, and delivers ambitious, large-scale, story-driven artworks, stage productions, events, and immersive experiences. With a background in theatrical design, 59 are known for integrating animation, projection, and film into physical environments, with landmark projects ranging from War Horse and the Tony Award–winning Stranger Things: The First Shadow to the V&A’s David Bowie Is exhibition and the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony. Today, their work spans theatre, exhibitions, architecture, and immersive venues, including co-founding Lightroom in London and collaborating with Foster + Partners on the Saudi Arabia Pavilion for Expo 2025 Osaka. With over 20 years’ experience, 59 has worked with leading cultural institutions and global brands worldwide and is a founding studio of Journey, the global design and innovation agency shaping multidimensional experiences. To learn more, visit www.59.studio.
About Access Entertainment
Access Entertainment is owned by Sir Leonard Blavatnik and led by Danny Cohen. It invests globally in high-quality film, television, theatre, and digital content. Investments in film include the Oscar and BAFTA-winning Conclave and the Oscar and BAFTA-winning The Zone of Interest. Access Entertainment owns the Theatre Royal Haymarket and invests in plays and musicals, including the Tony and Olivier award-winning The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Sarah Snook which debuted on Broadway in March 2025.
Access Entertainment also invests in a range of digital businesses across the creator economy, digital art, and mobile games. These include Lightroom, the immersive entertainment venue which launched with shows created by David Hockney and Tom Hanks. Other digital investments include Tripledot Studios, the leading mobile games maker that was named by the Financial Times as the fastest growing company in Europe in 2023 and included in Bloomberg’s 2025 list of 25 startups to watch.
About King’s Cross
King’s Cross is London’s creative neighbourhood and home of the extraordinary. It comprises 67 acres of inspiring businesses, outstanding architecture, destination retail and dining and a vibrant cultural scene. The area’s industrial past has inspired the 50 new and repurposed buildings, including Coal Drops Yard, the iconic Gasholders London and the Granary Building. The estate also includes 27 acres of public space, ranging from parks, streets, squares and gardens, with Granary Square and its iconic fountains at its heart.
