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Casa Batlló opens its second floor as a contemporary art space
The London collective United Visual Artists will bring 'Beyond the Façade' to the second floor of Casa Batlló in January.
Casa Batlló will open its second floor for the first time as a new exhibition space dedicated to contemporary art. Previously occupied by residential apartments and later used as a conservation and maintenance workshop, this floor can be visited for the first time as an art gallery. The new space will host two contemporary art exhibitions a year, thus consolidating itself as a new cultural hub in the city of Barcelona.
The new 230 square metre space will be located on the second floor of the iconic building, an area that was historically occupied by residential apartments and later used as a conservation and maintenance workshop, and will now be open to the public for the first time. The inaugural exhibition will be curated by United Visual Artists, a London-based art collective founded by Matt Clark, who will present Beyond the Façade in Barcelona, an exploration of the multiple cycles of life through light and movement at the end of January 2026.
In this exhibition, UVA will explore the multiple cycles of life through light and movement, inviting visitors to see themselves reflected within the work. In addition, Matt Clark has been chosen as the artist responsible for Casa Batlló's Mapping 2026, where he will present a previously unseen piece on the façade conceived as a prologue to the exhibition. The exhibition will open to the public on January 31, coinciding with the first day of the mapping.
These initiatives are part of Casa Batlló Contemporary, a program that invites artists to collaborate with the monument to rethink and reinterpret Gaudí's legacy, coinciding with the centenary of the architect's death in 2026. According to María Bernat, director of Casa Batlló Contemporary, the initiative "aims to foster a dialogue between past and future, placing Antoni Gaudí's legacy in a contemporary framework. Through art and architecture, his radical vision is explored from a contemporary perspective, remaining true to his innovative and disruptive spirit, and connecting with the dynamism of the artistic scene in Barcelona today."
