Luzinterruptus is a Spanish art collective based in Madrid, staging light installations in and around the city. In a rare interview, the anonymous group told Urban Art Core, “We carry out urban installations in public spaces and use light as raw material and the night as our canvas.”
The three artists behind the collective have backgrounds in art, lighting and photography, and have combined their skills to create meaningful installations. “We want to apply our creativity in a common action, leaving lights on in protest, so that other people turn them off,” writes the trio.
Their light installations are impactful without damaging the space. “What makes our work different is that we do it on the streets, in a clandestine and spontaneous way, most times without sponsors and using what we find in the streets and we always leave the installation so that pedestrians interact with it as they like”, they told Urban Art Core.
The group’s most recent display is called Flags Don’t Hold, and was launched on Spain’s Republic Day, 14 April 2016. The installation saw them deploy more than 200 toy parachutes, to which they added their signature touch of light.
Poor wind conditions meant that the parachute’s failed to travel very far, appropriately leaving them abandoned on the ground, “So they finally remained motionless and the figurines stayed lying on the ground bleeding metaphorically. Everything looked very dramatic.”
According to the group the installation was in protest of Spain’s current political situation. They claim the country is governed by leaders who do not act in the interest of the public, and who are constantly in dispute. The location, Columbus Square, was chosen for its symbolism as the home of the national flag. “We came up with the idea of paying a luminous visit to one of the places which best represents this retrograde, chauvinistic spirit that magnifies the symbols of power while it turns its back on the crude reality of citizens.”
