Barcelona’s a great city for checking out all kinds of whimsical art, but earlier this month the city held a really special art event – the LlumBCN 2014 display as part of the Santa Eulalia children’s festival held in February. “Llum” means light in Catalan, and that’s exactly what this fantastic weekend was all about.
The city has hosted some spectacular light displays before, like a retelling of the Nativity story at Christmas time using cleverly illuminated pieces of the Sagrada Familia to explain the tale. There have also been art light displays during the Mercé festival that transform the city’s already beautiful buildings into true works of art.
LlumBCN takes that one step further, with around 20 squares, streets and buildings in the city center turned into interactive light art displays. The Gothic Quarter has a very cool atmosphere at night anyway, but the festival took it to whole new levels.
The biggest display was in Plaça Sant Jaume, where a series of fun videos were projected onto the town hall building. Some of the videos were funny and aimed at children, while others proudly displayed important pieces of Catalan culture.
Here’s one for the kids. Their lips moved and they sang a song in Catalan:
And a part that displayed Catalan correfocs (fire runs), castellers (human towers), and sardanas (a traditional dance):
But my favorites were the videos that really used the structure of the building either as a canvas or, even better, to make the building look like it was moving and warping in front of your eyes:
Of course, a few were just pretty and exciting, like the fireworks show near the end:
But this square wasn’t the only place that was lit up. Some of the streets got a slightly creepy makeover, like one plaza that had a looped audio recording of disconcerting background sounds along with lots of small yellow square light pictures that looked like windows. Some had eyes that blinked and seemed to follow you. It was decidedly unnerving, especially in the cold, dark Gothic neighborhood with the wind whistling around the narrow streets.
There were also these little winding streets that got turned into a Barcelona red light district:
We finished off the night at the Bar del Convent, an old convent in the Born district that’s been turned into a cute little café. On the night of LlumBCN though, it had a decidedly more modern feel than usual:
I wish I’d had time to see more of the light displays, as I missed quite a few of them. But next time there’s a light art installation in the city, I’ll definitely be there to check it out. These displays all add cool light effects to an already incredible city, but the very best ones can give you a totally new experience of Barcelona.
Have you ever been to see a light art installation? What’s the coolest piece of city art you’ve ever seen?
Besos!
-Jess
This is gorgeous! Wish it could happen in May when I’ll be there. Love your reports Jessica.
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Ooh May is SUCH a nice month in Barcelona! Actually, Girona has a flower festival at the beginning of May if you’re looking for cool festivals, and it’s only about 40 minutes away if you take the high-speed AVE train:
http://holayessica.com/2013/05/26/girona-temps-de-flors-flower-festival/
Cool Jessica! We had something like this in Cincinnati over the summer, but I couldn’t attend. I especially love the 3rd from the last pic. xoxo
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Wow this looks great, Jess! I experienced something similar when I visited Berlin about a year and a half ago. I “studied” these kind of projections when I was taking my postgrad and was absolutely fascinated by it! Now one of my friends works in an agency that precisely does this for brands – it’s amazing what technology can do!
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I know, it’s just incredible! It’s such a creative way to use lights, especially when they make the buildings look like they’re dancing.
I totally missed this…just saw the big moon at the building next to the Cathedral (forgot the name). Nice photos… hope they do this again next year!!!
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I hope so too! The light art stuff is so much fun to watch.
Wow, this is quite the display! Blinking eyes that follow you around? Seems decidedly creepy, yet fascinating. Would love to see this!
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Would love to have seen this, gorgeous photos! I will visit Barcelona in May, can’t wait!
Best city art I have seen would have to be Les Chemins invisibles the free Cirque du Soleil show in Quebec City. I saw Le Royaume de Tôle (Kingdom of Tin) which was part 3 of the 5 part series running from 2009 to 2013 – one chapter each summer.
Ooh free Cirque du Soleil? Amazing! They are incredible, I can’t believe the stuff they manage to pull off.
This must have been totally awesome to witness, Jess. Light installations are amazing. We have one called Lumiere in the city of Durham, only 20 mins away from me. It takes place in November every second year (due again 2015) and really transforms the city. 🙂
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It was amazing! It’s really incredible what artists can do with some cleverly-placed lights.
Wow, I must admit that it looks spectacular! 😀 Hope to make it there at night.
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