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A group of students and faculty members takes part in the first artistic intervention at the future Carmen Thyssen Museum in Barcelona

Their proposal, titled “Autopoetic Decoding of the Substantive Narrative”, was presented as a site-specific video installation that left no one indifferent.

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Students and faculty members from LCI Barcelona recently took part in an artistic intervention held in the former Cine Comedia in the city, as part of the activities organized by the future Carmen Thyssen Museum. The project, titled “Autopoetic Decoding of the Substantive Narrative”, was conceived as an interdisciplinary learning experience that combined critical reflection, collective creation, and a sensitive activation of space.

The proposal consisted of an on-site video installation that brought together living elements, ecological materials, and specific plastic gestures to articulate an “archaeology of the gaze”. The armchair from the old cinema was intervened as a symbol of the spectator’s body: a subject who observes, remembers, and projects. From this premise, the work explores how each individual builds their emotional and rational narrative through processes of visual decoding.

The project was developed as a collaborative pedagogical process led by a team of students from various disciplines: Fashion, Graphic Design, Animation, Interior Design, and Photography. The work was guided by a series of key questions: how can a sensitive language be translated?, what does it mean to encode and decode visual discourses in contemporary culture?, what roles do cinema and the museum play as spaces of symbolic and cultural construction?

The approach was multidisciplinary and critical, integrating references from experimental art (Nam June Paik, Fluxus), biological thought (Humberto Maturana), urban graphics (Keith Haring), and political philosophy (Jacques Rancière). This conceptual network made it possible to view the creative process as a space of constant negotiation between intuition, technique, and social awareness.

One of the most significant gestures of the intervention was the inclusion of two seats covered with cardboard, labeled with the phrase “Fragile. A living being inhabits here”, a direct reference to the presence of homeless individuals at the entrance of the venue. This symbolic act proposed a critical reading of the cultural space as a territory marked by inequalities and inhabited by diverse subjectivities.

From the academic direction, the project was praised for its ability to connect artistic training, social sensitivity, and contemporary thought, reaffirming LCI’s commitment to an art education grounded in dialogue, experimentation, and the collective construction of meaning.

Project instructors: Paul Parrella and Arnau Tàsies.
Participating students: Paula López Puyol, Agustín Pettit, Paula Haro Queralt, Maëlyz Papailhau, Bernat Mateu, Ayagoz Bazhanova, Leonardo Segura, Silvia Gracia, Lia Casas, and Casandra Mancheño.

Special thanks to the coordination teams who supported this project with energy and dedication:

Academic representatives: Salvatore Elefante (Photography), Estel Vilaseca (Fashion), David Carretero (Animation and Video Games), Pedro Coelho (Interior Design), Anna Pallerols (Graphic Design), Miljana Micovic (Academic Direction), and Sílvia Viudas (LCI Barcelona Director).
Technical support: Xavi Batalla and Petra Garajová.

The event was presided over by Baroness Carmen Thyssen and her daughter, Carmen Cervera, who toured the installation, spoke with attendees, and expressed their enthusiasm for offering real creative opportunities to new generations. They also highlighted the future museum’s intention to become a space open to the artistic community and attentive to emerging voices.

The gathering also featured renowned cultural figures who engaged with students and faculty members on creative processes and professional trajectories: painter Guillermo Lorca, illustrator and designer Jordi Labanda, chefs Carme Ruscalleda and Raül Balam, designer Pablo Erroz, urban artist TVBoy, designer Javier Mariscal, sculptor Samuel Salcedo, dancer Julio Bocca, and model Judit Mascó. Their contributions enriched the learning experience, further reinforcing the interdisciplinary and global nature of the event.