Casa Batlló Mapping
A collective digital art experience on the façade of Barcelona
+WHAT
Every year, on the first weekend of February, more than 100,000 people gather in front of the façade of Casa Batlló to enjoy ten-minute digital art projections every half hour: an urban celebration that belongs to both the people of Barcelona and the world.
+DIGITAL CANVAS
Casa Batlló Mapping is an ambitious public art project that transforms Gaudí’s iconic façade into a spectacular exhibition of projection, sound, and light. Mapping is a highly complex process that turns the physical form of a building into a digital canvas. The undulating surfaces, mosaics, and reflective textures of Casa Batlló present a particular challenge; however, through collaboration and innovation, the results each year have amazed the audience.
The project began in 2022 with "Living Architecture: Casa Batlló" by Refik Anadol, a piece that used data, archives, and Gaudí's own sketches to create a moving tribute to the life and imagination of the architect. In 2024, Sofia Crespo explored organic and aquatic forms with "Structures of Being", bringing the façade to life with AI-generated shapes inspired by nature. The 2025 edition, "Arborescent" by Quayola, projected algorithmic tree-like structures that swayed as though animated by invisible winds. Each artist approaches Gaudí’s building with their own vision, but always in dialogue with his ideas, forms, and innovative spirit.
The projections are short (around ten minutes long), but are presented every 30 minutes over two nights, attracting over 100,000 people and millions more online. Their ephemeral nature is part of their beauty, like witnessing an exceptional natural phenomenon. These works not only dazzle: they invite reflection on the connections between the past and the future, architecture and technology, heritage and contemporary creation.
