luzinterruptus locates a luminous labyrinth of plastic waste in madrid

anonymous art collective luzinterruptus has installed a labyrinth of plastic waste within madrid’s plaza mayor. the work is an extension of a public art project the studio completed for poland’s katowice street art festival in 2014, only larger and ‘more claustrophobic’. built using a month’s worth of plastic bottles, the design team sought to powerfully visualize the amount of waste we generate throughout the course of each day.

all images by lola martínez 

‘we thought it was paramount that the piece didn’t look friendly,’ explains luzinterruptus. ‘quite on the contrary, our intention was to make the public feel certain discomfort when entering it.’ in order to achieve this, the team built a structure with intricate paths and narrow passages that force visitors to keep turning — producing a profound feeling of disorientation. a lack of reference points combined with the heat and smell of the plastic only serves to enhance the oppressive experience.

centered around the plaza’s statue of king philip III, the maze’s corridors are 170 meters (558 feet) in length, and are surrounded by 3 meter (10 feet) high walls that comprise 15,000 bottles hung within transparent bags. during evening hours, integrated lighting helps vibrantly illuminate the structure. the design team had to contact a wide range of hospitals, universities, and official institutions in order to obtain the thousands of bottles required for the installation.

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