Lights and Shadows

“Lights and Shadows” is an interactive work by Fabio Viola and Andrea Carpentieri, presented at Spazju Kreattiv in Valletta, Malta, in Spaces A and B, the Atrium and the Atrium approach. The scene is a dark, almost eerie suburb where distant, shadowy figures blend into the decay. As light fills the space, these elements reveal beauty and simplicity and change the perception of suburbs that are often stigmatised.

Visitors change the narrative with an infrared laser: the system tracks the dot of light on the screen and triggers animations according to its position. The light stands for the work of artists who strive to elevate these places; the initial darkness, for the difficulties of the communities who live there.

There are two themes: beauty in sadness, with a mural of a crying face that fills with colour as the light touches it, and the fragility of living, which sets precarious environments against images of secure homes, a symbol of dignity and stability.