Exhibitions
Who Are United Visual Artists, the Collective Behind Casa Batlló’s New Exhibition?
In this past month, many who may have discovered United Visual Artists thanks to the exhibition Beyond the Façade in Casa Batlló. However, for over two decades UVA (United Visual Artists) has been at the forefront of the (now-rampant) wave of hyper-immersive art. The London-based collective, founded by Matthew Clark, delves into the cultural influences and natural phenomena that influence the way we perceive the world. Their purpose comes from one clear idea, to create works that are not limited to observation but that can be experienced. Contrary to painting or traditional sculpture, their projects defy the idea of a status object, and centralize on immersive environments that swathe the spectator and convert him in an active part of the experience.
UVA’s practice can be understood through phenomenology and systems-based aesthetics, in which perception, interaction, and feedback loops shape the meaning of the work. Rather than presenting fixed objects, their installations operate as dynamic environments that respond to human presence, merging artistic, scientific, and technological frameworks into a unified experiential language. They use systems of light, digital programming, mobile sculptures and blaring landscapes transforming space into a sensorial scenography. In their installations, time, movement and rhythm are just as important as form or colour. Many of their pieces interchange constantly, and respond to external data or evolve depending on the presence of the public. One of the most characteristic traits of the collective is their interest on how humans may perceive reality, therefore, through their geometric patrons, light pulsations, and/or sound scenes, UVA is aimed to play with our perception of the space. The result tends to be a hypnotic sensation, nearly meditativa, one that invites us to stop, observe and reflect.
In an interview with Plaster Magazine, founder Matthew Clark mentioned influences such as Sol LeWitt, Robert Irwin, Buckminster Fuller, and James Turrell, all of whom have shaped his artistic practice. He also noted his interest in collaborating with figures from other disciplines, including theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli and historian and author Yuval Noah Harari. These diverse references are evident throughout UVA’s work, particularly in the way the collective bridges technology, science, and art into a unified creative language.
Since its formation, United Visual Artists has exhibited in museums, galleries, and public spaces around the world, collaborating with cultural institutions, festivals, and artists from a wide range of fields. Their projects have appeared in exhibition contexts, stage productions, concerts, and urban environments, demonstrating that digital art can be as poetic as technologic.
The collective’s exhibition Beyond the Façade is the first to occupy the newly opened Casa Batlló and brings together moving images, audiovisual environments, kinetic sculptures, printed works and interactive elements to invite visitors to rediscover both the façade and interior of Casa Batlló. Far from imposing a new visual interpretation, the work reconsiders the building’s forms, rhythms and hidden geometries echoing Gaudí’s own lifelong fascination with natural systems and what he called “divine geometry.” It is, in part, a tribute to Antoni Gaudí’s legacy and part of a broader attempt to rethink how we perceive architecture, nature and movement through art, light and technology. By placing Beyond the Façade within Gaudí’s emblematic structure, UVA not only honours the work of one of history’s most radical architects but demonstrates how contemporary artistic practices can extend and amplify his ideas for new generations.
