Madrid International Festival of Light

VJYourself! is an interactive video-dance installation developed by Playmodes Studio for the Lázaro Carreter Cultural Centre. The dancers dance with themselves in the past, repeated, composed and choreographed by timing and repetition effects using software developed by Playmodes Studio using OpenFrameworks.

LAMPOUNETTE is an art installation inspired by the well-known table lamp traditionally used by architects and now part of the collective heritage of design. The French company Tilt presents an oversized lamp that takes on a life of its own, invading the urban outdoor space and illuminating the public in all its splendour, creating a poetic and imaginary universe.

NOSTALGIA DEL DESPLAZAMIENTO (nostalgia for displacement )is an installation by the artists Galoguin and Atalanata in the form of a tunnel of infinite lights. Thanks to the flashing lights, the spectator’s vision is stimulated, leaving us in a trance that arouses memories and emotions related to long road trips, dreams and the fleeting nature of life. Inside, illegible signs transport us to the unknown, to another place or even another time. An invitation to venture into the unknown.

Ángel Sevillano’s CUERPOS INTERVENIDOS (intervened bodies) is a video art installation that addresses the overexposure to images and the mental problems associated with the constant editing and alteration of the body.

Figures are laid out on the floor, inspired by the chalk figures that mark the location of a corpse at a crime scene.

0X1GEN0 is an installation, light projection and 3D modelling project that invites the public to see how the DiMad space is transformed into a greenhouse with three virtual trees planted on the room’s barren floor. The work should be understood in the context of the climate crisis we are currently experiencing.

IN-FINITUD is an installation made up of 20 1-metre cubes, illuminated by LEDs and animated by generative algorithms, which will be hung on the façade of the DIMAD nave at Matadero Madrid.

Pablo Bordons presents this lighting installation that aims to occupy the space with a question about time.

HIPÓSTILA is a Photosonic essay created by Cube.bz beneath the Praga Bridge based on the spatial repetition of zenithal beams projected onto fog, inspired by the monumentalism of temples such as Karnak or Luxor, the great buildings of ancient Greece and the rhythmic columns of Gaudí, in dialogue with an electroacoustic piece specially created for the occasion by the collective ZA!

Warning: The installation contains flashing lights that may bother photosensitive people.
It is recommended that minors be accompanied by an adult.

LUNAR OSCILLATIONS is a contemplative light and sound intervention on perception in a variable environment, a universe of stars and dynamic moons. Based on the influence the moon has on the seas, oceans and living beings, Xavi Bové’s work explores the sensations the individual experiences through the transformation of space with a play of moving light and shadow.

PAISAJES OBSERVABLES (observable landscapes) explores the production of alternative forms of visuality and meaning in images. The landscapes captured in the province of Palencia by Ana Marcos and Alfonso Villanueva, artists from the 3dinteractivo studio, are transformed into a digital canvas on which to work and recode a collective portrait of the inhabitants of the province and those taking part in the Matadero Workshop.

OCTANTIS is the closest star to the South Pole that is visible to the human eye. Its light falls on the former Matadero water tower, creating a beautiful visual spectacle accompanied by surround sound. Artist Ricardo Morcillo’s offering conveys a message of hope that urges us to reflect on how we can preserve the firmament.

MAYRIT. AGUA, PIEDRA, FUEGO Y CARNE (Mayrit. water, stone, fire and flesh ) is a site-specific work created by Ezequiel Nobili for the Arab Wall to enhance and convey the significance of the archaeological remains of the first wall of Madrid. Employing a system of microphones and closed-circuit cameras, the image of the visitors will be projected onto the wall and that of the stone on them, creating a light that sustains itself plastically and reciprocally.

HURACÁN (A WEATHER SYSTEM) is a piece created by Eugenio Ampudia, one of Spain’s most important artists, for the façade of the Royal Palace. It’s a projection that reflects on the overwhelming force of the air.

An image of a hurricane brings us face to face with the immeasurable creative and destructive force of nature, and its mystery. It reminds us to set aside our arrogance and becomes a beautiful metaphor for the speed at which ideas are consumed and the intensity of the physical experience of perceiving them.

( (( GraffPhonica )) ) draws strokes on the façade of the Senate that flash and light up the night. In the capable hands of the urban artist SUSO33, these strokes multiply, disappear, unveil, reveal and create an imaginary that disappears without trace at the end of each night. It will survive in only one place: the memory of each attendee.

MIRADAS (Gazes) is an immersive light installation by Studio&Light which, accompanied by music, places the visitor at the centre of attention and endeavours to return their gaze to them through their reflection in the mirror. Specially designed for the interior of the Church of Saint Teresa and Saint Joseph, the artists invite us to observe attentively and at the same time to let ourselves be observed.

KONTAKT EXTENDED is a living architecture in the Plaza de España by Nicolas Paolozzi, the head of the production company Module, which combines sound, light and movement. Swept along by the installation’s different moods, the public is immersed in an ever-changing tide of atmospheres. This interactive project allows the public to play at altering certain aspects of their behaviour.

The FLORESTA DE CRISTAL (The Crystal Glade)is a reflection on nature as an inspiration for architecture. The photographer Rosa Muñoz takes as her starting point the fragmented narrative of a previous work that produced geometric elements derived from the study of abandoned architecture in Madrid. These forms are the pieces of a puzzle that the artist transposes onto the vertical garden of CaixaForum to create a scenario that brings to mind floral stained glass windows with a touch of Gothic here and there.

DANIEL CANOGAR, a prestigious artist who has worked in both Spain and the United States and whose work has been exhibited in major museums around the world, presents SCRAWL, a generative digital piece specifically created for LuzMadrid 2023 that reacts to Twitter trends in real time, instantly and anonymously transforming them into graffiti, reflecting on the struggle between the need for audiovisual communication and the institutional order.

AMADEUS is an interactive experience created by JOSÉ VAALIÑA, director of the Eyesberg studio, in which a visual story is projected on the façade of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food. By stepping on the keys of a piano projected on the ground, the public is able to activate real-time changes in the story’s music, video and effects.

The installation that RAMÓN DE LOS HEROS has created for the Cuesta de Moyano is called the EL JARDÍN DE LOS LIBROS LEÍDOS Y NO LEÍDOS ( The garden of read and unread books). Taking a figurative approach, the artist creates a poetic universe of characters illuminated from within, caught in the magical and ethereal moment of those who find what they are looking for. What remains is the luminous illusion of the souls of the people who come to buy books.

AURA, by Xevi Bayona and Álex Posada, is an immersive experience for the Los Planteles Garden in El Retiro Park consisting of 16 rings of light installed in trees that illuminate the surrounding area and cast shadows that evolve slowly over time. In the installation, the light vibrates and moves to the beat of the sound, creating dreamlike atmospheres that contrast with the natural landscape of the forest.

TRANSLUCENS, by the Finnish artist Niko Tiainen, is a holographic projection on a curtain of water accompanied by a stereo sound design. The installation, located in the Pond of the Glass Palace in El Retiro Park, converses with the mathematical theory of structures that have light and concrete biological forms, combining different visuals to create a Kuleshov effect: the audience constructs the actual script in their minds.

DETENER EL TIEMPO (Holding back time) is Juan Gómez-Cornejo’s design for the monument to Alfonso XII in El Retiro Park. In collaboration with the Illusion Stage Company, the creator fuses music and light to sculpt air, weave water and inhabit dreams. A creation that establishes a dialogue with the original authors of the monument in order to grasp the impossible.