In addition to being part of a major urban transformation, the creation of L’Auditori 25 years ago had a significant impact on a district that was still being developed. L’Auditori reflected the city’s firm commitment to turning the Poblenou-Glòries area into a hub of innovation and cultural energy.
The project, mirroring the Cité de la musique in Paris, aimed to address various issues: Catalonia’s symphony orchestra had no permanent home that would allow it to develop artistically, and there was no real symphony hall in the city. It was also intended to meet the needs of a dynamic music sector that was scattered around Barcelona and lacked the resources to continue growing. This paradigm shift, building on Barcelona’s international status as an Olympic city, culminated in the birth of a true home for music.
The exhibition, led by the Museu de la Música de Barcelona and located outside the building, is a retrospective and a commemoration of this first quarter of a century of L’Auditori’s history. It focuses on four axes: the building and the urban transformation that would open Fort Pienc in Les Glòries and Poblenou; the artistic activity that has contributed to placing Barcelona on the international musical circuit with 4 concert halls that range from 200 to 2,200 locations; the institution that brings together the Barcelona Symphony and National Orchestra of Catalonia, the Barcelona Municipal Band, the Barcelona Music Museum and the ESMUC part; and finally formed by the collective of people that work day by day at L'Auditori.
The exhibition includes an ephemeral architectural intervention on the façade of the building in the care of Clara Solà-Morales. The activity of L’Auditori is masked by its walls or in the shade of its large outdoor hall. The proposal seeks to emphasize its limits, and to highlight the activity that is born from the interior. The same blue that traces the sculpture of Pablo Palazuelo, the large lantern inside the auditorium, is used by the façade to become an ephemeral claim to the celebration of the 25th anniversary of the inaguration of L’Auditori.