EMERGING LIGHTS – POST.FLORA
Madrid School of Design (ESDMadrid)
Spain

From 12 to 14 March
From 5pm to midnight

Central de Diseño / Matadero Madrid. DIMAD (interior)
FREE ADMISSION UNTIL CAPACITY IS REACHED

EMERGING LIGHTS

The 2026 edition cements the Emerging Lights programme as a firm fixture at LuzMadrid, reinforcing its commitment to serving as a platform for promoting new creators and strengthening a collaborative ecosystem with some of the city’s top design schools. As a creative, conceptual and technical medium, light forms the basis of a training process developed during the first semester by students from the Madrid School of Design (ESD), UDIT University of Design, Innovation and Technology, IED – European Institute of Design and the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM). These students create site-specific installations for Central de Diseño which are part of the festival’s official programme. In Emerging Lights, LuzMadrid brings together education, cultural production and the city, providing students with a real-world framework for experimentation and exchange with other creators and forms of artistic expression.

What would happen if we allowed artificial intelligence to interpret nature on its own, without the involvement of the human eye? Using real plants connected to sensors, variables such as electrical activity, humidity and light are transformed into streams of open data. AI acts as a perceptual extension that generates visual shapes and prolongs the plant’s existence in another environment. The organic and the digital coexist in a contemplative space that invites us to experience nature based on a different rationale.

*INSTALLATION SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR LUZMADRID 2026

The Madrid School of Design (ESDMadrid) is a public higher art education institution. Its specialised Interior Design studies provide a comprehensive education that combines conceptual thinking, visual culture and hands-on projects. Its approach promotes critical reflection and fosters the relationship between design, society and the cultural context. The installation was designed by Andreea Rotaru, with the support of Elena Juárez, Santiago Liébana, Óscar Muñoz, Iciar Villamayor, Miguel Llavori and Belén González.

Artistic creation: Andreea Rotaru
Sound: Andreea Rotaru, Elena Juárez, Santiago Liébana and Óscar Muñoz
Production: Andreea Rotaru, Elena Juárez, Santiago Liébana, Óscar Muñoz, Iciar Villamayor, Miguel Llavori and Belén González – Madrid School of Design

Location

Central de Diseño, run by the Madrid Designers Association (DIMAD), is a space devoted to the dissemination, research and promotion of contemporary design. The building that houses it, Nave 17 of Matadero Madrid, was part of the industrial complex originally designed in the early 20th century by Luis Bellido, and it retains the Neo-Mudéjar industrial architecture that distinguishes the entire site, with an open-plan structure and exposed brick.