Barcelona Ceramics

The travelling Barcelona Ceramics exhibition features 20 prototypes chosen from those designed in the 12 years since the creation of the Barcelona Ceramics Chair. These projects boast innovative formats that were designed for new applications in the field of architecture and combine rigorous technique and creative emotion. To exhibit these prototypes, the organiser designed an exhibition in which the containers share a material likeness to the pieces on display. As a result, the pieces are presented to visitors inside ceramic buckets fashioned by ceramicist Toni Cumella, which emerge from cardboard boxes as if they were gifts for the onlookers. To enhance the effect, LED lines were placed around the perimeter to light up the buckets. As a counterpart to the buckets on display, the ceramicist created a series of ceramic stalactites that hang from the ceiling and illuminate the pieces in a manner reminiscent of jewellery showcases. The LED lights on these ceramic luminaires counter the floor lighting, highlighting the exhibition's two levels. The travelling nature of the exhibition has influenced how each of the elements has been designed, with a view to making it easier to assemble and disassemble.

The travelling exhibition opened in the Official Association of Architects of Catalonia (COAC) in Barcelona and later visited the School of Architecture in Valencia, the Cevisama Fair in Valencia, the University of Granada’s School of Architecture and now the Design Museum of Barcelona. It is important to note that this exhibition was selected as finalist in the 13th Spanish Architecture and Urbanism Biennial.

Curators: Vicente Sarrablo Moreno, Doctor of Architecture; Jordi Roviras Miñana, Doctor of Architecture; Cristina Garcia Castelao, architect

Contributors: Mariola Borrell, Lluís Casadevall, Joan Marc Garcés, Carles Palau, Enrique Pérez-Sala, Galam Kim, Carmelo Santana, Oriol Marty

In partnership with: ASCER, Shlüter-Systems, LQ-Lux, DEC Disseny en Cartró and Ceràmica Cumella