Italian artist Quayola brings new life to Gaudí's Casa Batlló with 'Arborescent' light show
Barcelona's iconic Casa Batlló was a unique canvas last weekend for Italian multimedia artist Quayola.
The Gaudí-designed UNESCO world heritage site was the setting for an incredible free of charge show that mixed pulsating electronic music with art and architecture.
Over two nights, every half hour, thousands of people waited patiently in silence as Quayola's illuminating work lit up the unmistakeable façade.
Titled Arborescent, the projection mapping artwork paid homage to nature, mimicking natural behaviours and dynamics of the botanical world.
For Quayola, Gaudí’s architectural philosophy provided a deep source of inspiration: "One thing that really struck me about Gaudí's work is that his buildings don’t seem designed and constructed like any other building. It really feels like something has grown out of a natural process. So to me, the tree is kind of a symbol, a sort of analogy of organic growth and complexity. It’s a symbol for the inspiration that I think drove Gaudi into building the house."
Quayola, a former DJ, composed an original soundtrack to accompany the mapping and work as an audio guide to the blossoming of life within architecture. Blending traditional instrumentation with algorithmic composition, the music heightened the sense of organic movement during the spectacle.
"My work is rooted in technology. I like to explore how technology is changing the way we look at the world. And I somehow explore several traditions several historical, pictorial, cultural traditions in which I tend to go back. So you could say that my work also, it’s some kind of tension and relationships between past, present and future," Quayola told Euronews Culture.
"Now nature can ultimately be this kind of universal, infinite