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400 Sparkling Nipples Shed Light on Facebook's Bullshit Nudity Policies

Anonymous artist group Luzinterruptus protested internet censorship outside Facebook’s Madrid HQ with a glowing reminder of the utter shamefulness of censoring a tit.
Photos by Lola Martinez, courtesy of Luzinterruptus

Over the past year or so, artists have reacted creatively to anti-nudity policies across social media platforms, creating pieces like these sculptures which allowed the artist to show her nipples on Instagram without showing her ‘real body.’ In a new artistic statement against censorship, this time in response to Facebook’s anti-nipple legislation, the Madrid-based artistic group Luzinterruptus lit 400 plastic breastfeeding nipples with LEDs at the entrance of Facebook’s Madrid headquarters. For an hour, the 400 nipples shone brightly outside of the office, beautifully illuminating the sidewalk and reminding passersby of just how harmless nipples are.

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While many artists have reacted to Facebook’s policies, Luzinterruptus told the Creators Project that the majority of the artistic responses they’d seen were photography or performance art. They choose instead to create a physical installation, moving a virtual debate into the physical world. Some of the artists behind the project have had their own Facebook accounts shut down in the past and the installation was an IRL reaction to what had happened to them on the internet.

The project took five hours to set up and was removed completely after the exhibition was finished. Luzinterruptus wrote on their website that they now have 400 nipples available for any artists who would like to install a related project. And, it is possible that this project will morph into related anti-censorship statements, just as Luzinterruptus’ environmentalist projects have continued to make powerful statements about global warming in different incarnations, filling the fountain in Trafalgar Square with glowing garbage and raining condoms.

In addition to protesting the censorship of Facebook policies, Luzinterruptus wants to call attention to other elements of the restrictive policies. Specifically, they are reacting to what they see as a hypocritical stance on potentially disturbing images. While Facebook removes photographs of breastfeeding women, they allow violence, racism, and misogynistic content to roam free. Finally, Luzinterruptus wants to make viewers aware of the third-world workers who they believe are exploited by Facebook to as they work for very low wages to censor Facebook content. Even in reactions to the installation, Luzinterruptus has seen backlash. “Many magazines commented that they couldn’t publish articles [about the installation] because of editorial politics,” Luzinterruptus tells the Creators Project. The reactions to the installation have shown the artistic group just how much influence Facebook has. Will 2017 be the year we finally #freethenipple? We’ll have to wait and see.

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Luzinterruptus is an anonymous artistic group focused on public installations. Find out more about the nipple installation and Luzinterruptus’ other projects here.

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