ART MEETS APOLO is an exhibition program where different installations by local artists are presented in the spaces of Barcelona’s legendary concert hall. The site-specific project ART MEETS APOLO seeks to explore the intersection between club culture and contemporary art, generating a meeting point between an environment characterized by agitation and chaos, and another associated with stillness and observation.

The initiative of Sala Apolo has been conceived in collaboration with LAB 36, Galeria SENDA, and Screen Projects (LOOP Barcelona). This strategic alliance amplifies the scope and purpose of ART MEETS APOLO, fosters exchange between artists and audiences, and promotes the artistic diversity present in Barcelona’s cultural panorama and the dialogue between disciplines. The works are exhibited in the common spaces of the halls for months, allowing concertgoers and club attendees to enjoy this unique fusion of art and nightlife.

«ACCUMBENS» BY PEDRO TORRES

Artist Pedro Torres experiments with the concepts of time, distance, memory, and language. In his installation for Sala Apolo, he displays moving images and site-responsive elements inspired by scientific theories and approaches to the study of the brain. Thus, he finds his center in the nucleus accumbens, a set of neurons in the brain linked to sensations of pleasure, fear, aggression, and addiction.

The installation, distributed across three channels, uses devices based on persistence of vision to immerse the audience in a sensory and reflective experience. Through this work, Torres invites the audience to explore the depths of the human mind and to question the very nature of perception and reality.

«PSYCHOFLAGE» BY MÓNICA RIKIĆ

Mónica Rikić develops an artistic practice centered on creative and electronic coding. She combines non-digital objects to create interactive projects, robotic installations, and handmade devices that transcend mere functionality.

In the context of Apolo, her creation «PSYCHOFLAGE» is composed of electronic modules reminiscent of a balloon endowed with an artificial intelligence system that shapes its behavior: inflating and deflating them and altering their internal luminosity. This playful approach transforms the Hall into a space of multicolored psychedelic fantasy.

«APOLO ARTIFICIAL PARADISE» BY JORDI GISPERT

Artist Jordi Gispert joins ART MEETS APOLO with his sculptural installation «Apolo Artificial Paradise», an extension of his work «Artificial Paradise» exhibited at LAB 36. In this piece, Gispert explores the artificial nature that permeates our daily lives.

The installation consists of 10 recycled aluminum bas-reliefs, surrounded by a tricolor stainless steel mesh and framed by a cord of LED lights. Through this proposal, the artist examines human attraction to the fruits of his technical labor and the fascination with the machines and materials that cover them, which he describes as “the skin of the machine”.

«LA FITO. SINGING AS A POSSIBLE CURE» BY FITO CONESA

Fito Conesa is a multidisciplinary artist who works with visual and sound elements. For his creation for ART MEETS APOLO, he has chosen the bathrooms as the setting. There, one can listen repeatedly to «La Fito. Singing as a possible cure», three sound reinterpretations inspired by Paco España, Marifé de Triana, and Bambino.

The sound installation pays homage to the voices of “the rascally Barcelona” linked to transvestism. Most of them migrated from southern Spain to Barcelona to make a living and ended up working in the Music Halls on the margins of society. Thus, Fito Conesa rescues these silenced and ignored figures from the past who have contributed significantly to the formation of the city’s character.

«VERS(U)S» BY ADA MORALES AND CARLA PUIG

Ada Morales and Carla Puig are two young artists united under the nickname “A C” (I see), in relation to the resources of light and installation with which they work. Their works are based on light and for ART MEETS APOLO it has not been less. For this initiative they have created «Vers(u)s», two audiovisual installations where they explore atmospheric phenomena to create a dialogue between industry and nature. To do this, they highlight the value of light and its temperature, and give it volume with smoke.