Barcelona, March 27 – The world’s first floating museum, the ArtExplora catamaran, has arrived in Barcelona, offering a unique artistic journey through the Mediterranean. The vessel, which has toured eleven other Mediterranean cities, will be open to visitors at the Moll de Barcelona until April 6th, presenting immersive experiences, sound installations, and exhibitions.
ArtExplora: Bringing Art to the People
The ArtExplora festival, founded in France in 2024 by Frédéric Jousset, aims to make art accessible to everyone. “ArtExplora is born from a simple conviction: art should be accessible to all,” explains Jousset. The initiative, initially conceived as itinerant art trucks, evolved into a floating museum, recognizing the potential of the sea to connect cultures.
The 47-meter long sailing catamaran, capable of hosting up to 2,000 daily visitors, transforms into a dynamic exhibition space. It not only showcases art within its decks but also around it, with pavilions inviting reflection on the Mediterranean and its contrasts, from serene waves to the poignant stories of exiles seeking new opportunities by sea. “Navigating from port to port, we build bridges between cultures and open new perspectives on current challenges,” Jousset emphasizes.
A Journey Through the Mediterranean’s Richness and Tensions
After welcoming over 350,000 visitors across cities like Malaga, Nice, Rijeka, Limassol, and Durrës, Barcelona is the latest stop for this innovative museum before it heads to Ibiza. The catamaran is moored at the Moll de Barcelona, a 600-meter promenade inaugurated last May as part of the Port’s strategy to redevelop and open its spaces to the public.
True to its mission of universal accessibility, the festival offers a wide range of free programming, though some activities require prior booking. The imposing catamaran itself, docked in the port, draws curiosity, promising an artistic experience beyond the usual. Onboard, ArtExplora invites visitors to engage their senses, close their eyes, and momentarily escape the city’s hustle to reconnect with the Mediterranean’s essence.
An almost ten-minute sound experience, conceived by IRCAM-Pompidou, interprets the Mediterranean as a tapestry of layers, rhythms, and tensions. While this sound journey explores different corners of the sea on deck, an immersive virtual reality experience developed by Ubisoft inside the ship transports visitors through space-time to ancient Alexandria, Athens, or Venice at their peak.
Transdisciplinary Art and Diverse Perspectives
“The festival’s differentiating element is its focus on sound, deeply linked to the visual arts,” highlights ArtExplora’s curator, Rosa Lleó, who collaborated with associate curator Maguette Dieng on the artistic proposal. Moving away from traditional formats, the program embraces “hybrid and transdisciplinary proposals.”
Beyond immersive experiences and static exhibitions, ArtExplora presents a rich program of live arts, including performances, concerts, and DJ sessions by artists from the Mediterranean and its diasporas, such as Nkisi, Nadah El Shazly, and Dudù Kouate. Family-friendly workshops and educational activities are also part of the offering.
The artistic exploration extends beyond the catamaran, with static exhibition pavilions on the Barcelona pier. The ‘Present’ pavilion, a collaboration with the Louvre Museum, focuses on the representation of female figures in Mediterranean art history, reflecting a shared desire to re-examine narratives and social constructs.
The ‘Contracorrent’ pavilion features a photographic exhibition by Arab artists addressing concepts like exile, displacement, and violence, often from a domestic, intimate, and autobiographical perspective. Here, the Mediterranean transcends its symbolic role to become a stage for conflicts and wounds, particularly relevant in the current context of war.
The sea takes center stage in the final pavilion, ‘Sota l’atzur,’ inspired by a Hittite myth where the sun sinks into the sea each sunset. This exhibition combines various artistic practices, from sculpture to abstract painting, bringing together artists of diverse origins, including Joan Miró, Etel Adnan, and Anri Sala. Each offers a unique perspective on the Mediterranean, some seeing it as a place of calm, others focusing on its marine life.
The ArtExplora festival provides a compelling and multifaceted exploration of the Mediterranean, inviting visitors to engage with its beauty, history, and contemporary challenges through innovative artistic expressions.
