‘The Plastic We Live With’ by Luzinterruptus in Bordeaux

Luzinterruptus “The Plastic We Live With”
FAB – Festival International des Arts de Bordeaux Métropole

“Plastic we are and to plastic we shall return”. This could be the motto of “The Plastic We Live With”, an installation by Luzinterruptus for FAB – Festival International des Arts de Bordeaux Métropole, which took place in October 2017. The piéce by the Spanish collective has been aimed to investigate and raise awareness on the theme of the plastic excess around us.

As Luzinterruptus says, “The idea was to graphically visualize, in a way that could be understood by all, the plastic excess that is around us, a recurrent subject in our work and in life, since practically everything we consume is either made with this material or it is wrapped in it or we are eating it in small particles in the meat and the fish we ingest.
Recycling isn’t enough to tackle this problem. That’s why the French government, among others, has taken measures to reduce its consumption as much as possible by outlawing the usage of plastic bags at stores which are being replaced by paper bags or bags made of biodegradable materials. This anti-bag context was essential to properly develop our piece in Bordeaux since we needed more than 6,000 units which we obtained at warehouses from all the city stores.
We intervened in the old Virgin Megastore building with them, completely filling the gaps in its facade so it looked as if the plastic were about to blow up the building.
In spite of being a light installation, it also worked during the day. People could get close to it and try to recognize the bags from their favorite stores. When its interior was lit at night, the windows looked as though they were covered with stained glass though in a more plastic, toxic version. The piéce remained lit for 4 days and, once dismantled, all the plastic material was properly recycled, and the building was left in the same condition in which we found it.”

Luzinterruptus is a Spanish artist collective that in the last years has conceived striking installations aimed to arise attention on fundamental social issues; from freedom of speech to the defense of the principles of democracy and the public condemnation of their violations, from the struggle against consumerism to the protection of natural resources.
[www.luzinterruptus.com]

“The Plastic We Live With”, an installation by Luzinterruptus for FAB “Festival International des Arts de Bordeaux Métropole”, Bordeaux, France, October 2017.
Photos courtesy of Luzinterruptus.