Artist Sofia Crespo veiled Antoni Gaudí’s Casa Batlló facade with colorful, artificial intelligence–powered projections. The installation, titled Structures of Being, attracted more than 95,000 visitors over two nights at the UNESCO World Heritage Site, immersing the audience into an audiovisual iteration of Gaudí’s universe. The installation marked the opening of Integrated Systems Europe in Barcelona, the world’s largest audiovisuals trade fair.
Structures of Being illuminated the iconic Casa Batlló facade after dark, bringing the building to life with Crespo’s dynamic multimedia artistry referencing plant foliage and other sinuous, abstract textures. The projection mapping event seemed perfectly evocative of the architecture beneath the lights themselves: Gaudí is known for his art nouveau–style designs that almost melt and warp in the eye of the viewer. His work has challenged ideas of rectilinear architectural norms since his first buildings appeared on the Spanish scene in the late 19th century. The show was accompanied by music by British composer Robert M. Thomas, whose soundtrack featured local performers and was recorded at Palau de la Música Catalana.
In partnership with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, Crespo used marine currents data and AI-assistance to generate bio-inspired projections, intentionally tapping into Casa Batlló’s marine motifs. In between showings, a QR code was projected on the building, gifting visitors with freely downloadable files of Crespo’s work.
Crespo’s work explores biotechnologies and the evolution of organic life through artificial intelligence. Her multimedia works have been exhibited at the Kunstverein Hannover in Germany, the Fotomuseum Winterthur in Switzerland, and in Times Square in New York, to name a few venues. Structures of Being is the first of Crespo’s forthcoming projects as Casa Batlló’s second artist-in-residence which, as part of the Heritage of Tomorrow program, invites artists to create artworks inspired by Gaudí’s architectural oeuvre. Playful and bright, Structures of Being marries the pulse-point of today’s emergent interest in AI and tech with the canonical legacy of Gaudí’s surreal architecture, using the historic home as a canvas that respectfull uplifts it, re-presenting Gaudí to new viewers and loyal fans alike.
