Casa Batlló Launches Special Program “Casa Batlló Contemporary”

(eap) Casa Batlló on Passeig de Gràcia in Barcelona bears the signature of Antoni Gaudí and is regarded as one of the city’s most renowned architectural constructions and tourist landmarks. Originally designed and used as a residential building, the property now operates as a visitor attraction, offering immediate immersion into the architect’s distinctive Modernisme style. For particularly immersive exploration tours, modern technologies such as projection mapping and augmented reality are employed in selected rooms (cf. EAP 2/2024: “A visitor attraction reinvents itself”).

© Photo: Claudia Mauriño

In commemoration of the 100^th anniversary of the Catalan architect’s death on June 10, 1926, the venue has recently introduced the special program “Casa Batlló Contemporary”. The initiative is intended to bring Gaudí’s striking style into dialogue with contemporary artistic movements, thereby generating new forms of staging. With the AV show “Hidden Order”, specially conceived for the program, the official public kick-off event for Gaudí Year 2026 has recently taken place. The commemorative year will be held under the overarching theme “L’ordre invisible” (“The Invisible Order”). Projection mapping on the façade of Casa Batlló and coordinated sound compositions offered audiences a free opportunity to tune in to the special program.

© Photo: Claudia Mauriño

Conceived by United Visual Artists founder Matt Clark, “Hidden Order” addressed cycles of emergence, chaos and transformation, thus aligning with the annual theme. The show combined light, movement and sound (composed by Daniel J. Thibaut) and, in collaboration with choreographer Fukiko Takase, evolved into a performative presentation in which Takase further animated the building’s façade through a live appearance behind one of its central windows. The presentation “Beyond the Façade”, also conceived by United Visual Artists and realized on the second floor of Casa Batlló, builds upon this show and will remain on view for several more weeks, until May 17. There, visitors embark on a journey from light into darkness.

“It was a special honor to present ‘Hidden Order’ together with my outstanding collaborators, particularly as the show commemorated the 100th anniversary of Antoni Gaudí’s death,” Matt Clark commented, adding: “Much like the feeling one experiences after visiting one of his buildings, I hope audiences leave with a sense of wonder and immersion. If anything continues to resonate after the visit, perhaps it is a heightened awareness of how order and uncertainty coexist – not only in architecture or art, but also in the way we perceive the world as a whole.”

© Photo: Claudia Mauriño

While Casa Batlló offers technology-supported and partly rotating experiences for the entire family in several of its spaces, its façade is regularly used for projection mapping shows developed and presented by various artists. The UNESCO World Heritage-listed building is open to visitors year-round. ■