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 an ecosystem of collaboration 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.

 The piece is based on a portmanteau of The Spanish word for light, “luz”, and “liminal”, a concept used in art, philosophy, psychology and urban planning to refer to something in transition between two states or a space in between two places. Luminal offers a visual and sound-based interpretation of the city consisting of eightbasic layers. Each veil has an organic form and incorporates an audio-reactive light projector and its own sound system, forming an ethereal, almost intangible urban landscape.

*INSTALLATION SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR LUZMADRID 2026

IED Madrid is a private, authorised centre for Artistic Design Studies which is part of the Istituto Europeo di Design’s international network. Its Interior Design programme provides project-based, practical training that engages with the contemporary reality. Luminal was developed by a team consisting of a mentor teacher and six fourth-year students: Carlos Chacón, Blanca Moro, Yi-chian Lai, Lilia Cherradi, Sofía Redondo and Catalina Mendoza.

Authors: Students of TGEAS Product Design and TGEAS Interior Design
Carlos Chacón
Lilia Cherradi
Yichian Lai
Catalina Mendoza
Blanca Moro
Sofía del Mar Redondo
Instructor and Technical Director: Ricardo Morcillo
Production: IED FabLab
With the collaboration of: Simon • JISO Lighting