MILAN — The year of Antoni Gaudí was proclaimed by the city of Barcelona and Casa Batlló is kick-starting the centenary of the Catalan architect’s death. With a new artistic program that begins on Saturday, organizers will usher in a year of worldwide celebrations.
Casa Batlló is a hallmark of Spain’s Surrealist movement and is one of Gaudí’s most recognizable architectural works.
On show and open to the public will be “Hidden Order,” a visual display by London-based United Visual Artists, an art practice known for its diverse body of work that integrates new technologies with traditional media.
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The studio was founded by British artist Matt Clark in 2003. Clark worked closely with international dance artist and choreographer Fukiko Takase, whose movement he recorded by integrating the dancer’s body as a central visual element on the facade of the iconic structure.
Captured using an infrared camera system, the artist will be on view, dancing through Casa Batlló and to music composed by Daniel J. Thibaut. The score allows “Hidden Order,” which will be cast on the facade, to connect with sound, movement and light into a single performative experience. These expressions are indicative of the unbridled freedom of Gaudí’s work and will be on display until Sunday.
“Dance, in particular, becomes a powerful medium because Gaudí conceived architecture almost as a living organism,” Casa Batlló Contemporary’s director Maria Bernat told WWD on the eve of the opening. The movement of the human body echoes the organic geometries of Casa Batlló, making visible the sense of flow, tension, and balance that underpins his work.”
The opening includes “Beyond the Facade,” the art exhibit also features Clark’s work and commemorates the new second floor exhibition space and will be open until May 17.
“Through motion, light, and sound, we can communicate Gaudí’s ideas in a visceral, emotional way that resonates strongly with contemporary audiences,” Bernat said.
Gaudí, who also designed the city’s yet-to-be-finished Sagrada Família Basilica, was a pillar of the Modernisme period, Spain’s unique version of Art Nouveau. Passionate about utopian socialism and architecture, Gaudí’s forms and shapes were totally fresh, otherworldly and are sometimes referred to as a precursor of the Surrealist movement, of which Salvador Dalí was a key proponent. The designer rose to international fame once again when Pope Francis declared him “Venerable” — an early step toward sainthood — just days before the pontiff’s own death in April.
Born in 1852, Gaudí is often referred to as “God’s Architect.” A man of deep faith, his greatest endeavour was the Basilica de la Sagrada Família, which was consecrated by Pope Benedict XVI.
Centenary festivities in Barcelona and the world will culminate in a commemorative mass at the Sagrada Familia on June 10, followed by celebrations for the long-awaited completion of the basilica, and for which the details have not yet been revealed.
“Beyond the Facade” is part of the Casa Batlló Contemporary program that invites artists to collaborate with the museum to rethink and reimagine Gaudí’s storied legacy, leading up to the 100th anniversary of Gaudí’s death on June 10, 1926. In 1993, the 20th-century monument was purchased and restored by the Bernats, the family of Spanish confectioner Enric Bernat, who invented and founded Chupa Chups lollipops. The home was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2005.
