Quayola to Illuminate Façade of Gaudi’s Casa Batlló in 2025
Refik Anadol, Living Architecture (2023) at Casa Batlló. Photo: Claudia Maurino.
When digital artist Refik Anadol projected AI-visuals by an algorithm trained on a billion images, including Gaudi’s sketches and tourist snapshots, onto the face of Casa Batlló in 2023, 65,000 people gathered in front of the building to watch.
They came to ‘hug’ the building, he told me.
Earlier this year, over 95,000 people came to see a projection by Sofia Crespo, another artist who generates imagery using AI.
On February 1 and 2 2025, it will be Quayola’s term to light up the architectural masterpiece, known locally as Casa dels ossos, or House of Bones.
‘As I constantly research new relationships with the heritage of our visual culture, working with such an iconic symbol as Casa Batlló is something very special,’ he said. ‘Immersing myself in Gaudí’s work has reiterated to me the boundless power of nature as an endless source of artistic inspiration.’
Quayola’s mapping, titled Arborescent, will be a digital tribute to nature, where various species of trees will illustrate their growth systems and respond to the environment. It will be accompanied by an original soundtrack composed by the artist.
Gary Gautier, CEO of Casa Batlló, said, ‘Quayola is a perfect fit for our principles: he merges the classical with the modern and decodes nature with a personal perspective and unique aesthetic. Moreover, his work has a sculptural component that is ideal for enhancing a façade like Casa Batlló, full of reliefs and symbolism.’
At last year’s Frieze London, Quayola exhibited his series ‘Jardins d’Été’ (2023)—video of blossoms he recorded at Château de Chaumont-sur-Loire in France and algorithmically-enhanced to resemble impressionist painting.
Quayola has also exhibited at institutions including the Palais de Tokyo in Paris, UCCA in Beijing, and the V&A Museum in London. In 2013, he was awarded the Golden Nica at Ars Electronica. —[O]
Main image: Refik Anadol, Living Architecture (2023) at Casa Batlló. Photo: Claudia Maurino.
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