“Literature vs Traffic” in Utrecht’s City Center: Luzinterruptus

A very long stream of books replaced the cars here in the Netherlands, thanks to Luzinterruptus, the Madrid-based anonymous collective who have been spreading light and activism for 15 years in cities.

Luz Interruptus. Literature VS Traffic. Literature Festival Utrecht – ILFU. The Netherlands. (photo © Montaña Pulido)

“We used more than 11,000 books,” they tell us of this 10-day trip and installation last fall. The books were donated and in turn, were re-donated to anyone who saw them in the street during the installation.

Pushing the cars aside, the books took the main thoroughfare here, with hundreds of people looking down to peruse the prose, taking a moment to be in the moment. Any remaining books were given to thrift stores.

“We used these books to create a very long stream which was open to the public during the entire day,” say organizers. “When night came, we made ways inside of it so that people could enter the piece and have access to the books to leaf through them and choose those they liked the most to take back home.”

Luz Interruptus. Literature VS Traffic. Literature Festival Utrecht – ILFU. The Netherlands. (photo © Luz Interruptus)
Luz Interruptus. Literature VS Traffic. Literature Festival Utrecht – ILFU. The Netherlands. (photo © Luz Interruptus)
Luz Interruptus. Literature VS Traffic. Literature Festival Utrecht – ILFU. The Netherlands. (photo © Luz Interruptus)
Luz Interruptus. Literature VS Traffic. Literature Festival Utrecht – ILFU. The Netherlands. (photo © Montaña Pulido)
Luz Interruptus. Literature VS Traffic. Literature Festival Utrecht – ILFU. The Netherlands. (photo © Montaña Pulido)
Luz Interruptus. Literature VS Traffic. Literature Festival Utrecht – ILFU. The Netherlands. (photo © Rob Schreuder)
Luz Interruptus. Literature VS Traffic. Literature Festival Utrecht – ILFU. The Netherlands. (photo © Montaña Pulido)
Luz Interruptus. Literature VS Traffic. Literature Festival Utrecht – ILFU. The Netherlands. (photo © Bram van Toor)
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