Stellar | Imagen Subliminal

design: Ben Busche / Brut Deluxe www.brutdeluxe.com
team: Jesús Francisco Rodríguez Pedrosa, Elisa Luda
client: City Council Madrid
constructor: Ximenez SA
area: calle Alcala, 210 m length, 16.5kW
photography + video: Miguel de Guzmán / Rocío Romero www.imagensubliminal.com
status: temporary/ built

The light installation, denominated stellar, is a site-specific design by commission of the City of Madrid for the emblematic 210m long street stretch between Puerta de Alcala and Plaza Cibeles, where calle Alcala is 32m broad and flanked on both sides by plane trees. The street is orientated from East to West.
The installation consists of a dense, blue coloured system of lines that zig zag over the whole span of the street, building up a textile-like, artificial sky with some areas apparently stressed and vacant and others compressed and dense containing thousands of blinking stars. Endowed with a palpable orientation, the installation aligns with both our star system, a subtle but notable presence through the slow journey of the moon along the tracks of the blue lines, and the constant traffic on the street below, a dynamic system that is enforced and emphasized in our installation. The spectator is immersed in an artificial atmosphere resembling the constant spin of the stars in zero gravity.
The installation is realised with blue coloured LED light rope with a total length of 6km on 5mm stainless steel cables and 480 vertical light motives holding a total of 7680 LED light bulbs, summing to an installed power of 16,5kW.