“AR-DE, a must for new collectors”

From June 3rd to 5th, we celebrate the second edition of AR-DE, the circuit of art galleries, showrooms and museums created with the aim of bringing the public closer to the programming of these spaces and encourage the sale of art and design.

For the occasion, we interviewed Claudia Costa, one of the directors of Poblenou Urban District and the art gallery La Plataforma, to tell us more about the AR-DE project, its ambitions and the particularities of this second edition.

 

How was the idea for the AR-DE project born?

Since the beginning of the Poblenou Urban District project, we always had the intention of making an event that would bring together the spaces of the Creative District linked to art and design. With AR-DE, the idea was always to set up something different, with a new format and create an event focused on selling art as well as bringing galleries, museums or showrooms to a really interested public. To promote the project, we decided to focus first on the spaces that are part of the creative community of Poblenou Urban District. As the circuit consolidates, we want to integrate other local and international art and design proposals.

 

What are the objectives of AR-DE?

On the one hand to give value to all these spaces that participate in the circuit, and at the same time to give value to a public that is really interested in art and design, and to discover what are the creative processes that each of these spaces have. Another objective is to give visibility to the artists who work in these spaces.

 

A particularity of this second edition of AR-DE?

For this edition, the LuzidLab team will give a digital canvas workshop to a group of artists so that they can implement new augmented reality techniques in their work. It is a project that seeks to involve artists within the circuit by giving them the necessary tools to start working with new technologies. In the next edition of AR-DE in October, artists will have the opportunity to present their projects.

For this edition we will have the French-Maltese artist Tim Marsh who will make a mural on the Façade of Carrer Pujades 110, as part of the Windows Art Circuit / WAC Lab 2022 that seeks to give visibility to muralism.

And without forgetting all the workshops, talks and exhibitions that will allow the public to learn about the creation process of the artists as well as the spaces.

 

What are AR-DE’s long-term ambitions?

In the long term, our ambition is to consolidate the circuit in terms of programming, spaces and territory, and to make it a must-attend event for new collectors and the interested public.

 

And finally, is there any meaning to the image of the AR-DE fire extinguisher?

On the one hand it represents industrial spaces, but it also has an implication with fire, with something that is happening, something that must be maintained. From Estudio Grande, they proposed us the idea of the extinguisher and we liked it immediately.

The image of the extinguisher also allowed us to work with LuzidLab on the AR-DE app and create an augmented reality project using the extinguisher as a signage and icon that would be recognizable to the public.

 

Discover all the programming of the second edition of AR-DE

Photo: Xabier Mendiola