Claudia Elies, director of La Fabra Centre d’Art Contemporani, located in the Barcelona neighborhood of Sant Andreu, presented yesterday morning the program for the upcoming season, which is the second with Elies at the helm.
It is a multidisciplinary program of individual exhibitions by artists from diverse backgrounds and disciplines that offer a broad view of contemporary art practices. The presentation to the media began with the intervention of Xavier Marcé, Councilor for Culture and Creative Industries of the Barcelona City Council, who celebrated that since Elies leads La Fabra, the facility "has seen an increase in public." Specifically, the number of visitors in the new director's first season grew by 84% (15,791 people) compared to the same period of the previous season (8,550 people).
The councilor also celebrated that the entity not only works with international artists but also "manages to internationalize local work, as has been done with the Institut Ramon Llull," in addition to being a "benchmark in the Sant Andreu neighborhood."
All programming
The exhibition program will begin in September with the installation De cua d’ull, by the artist LUCE, an exhibition included in La Fabra's Interludi #2 program, within the framework of the Barcelona Gallery Weekend. The cycle places the word at the center of reflection and explores it through performance, writing, and sound. Thus, De cua d’ull offers a new perspective on the city as a space for exploration, learning, and creation, through the word. For this edition, activities have been programmed that include concerts, poetry recitals, and nocturnal visits to the installation.
In October, two individual exhibitions will open. The first is by sculptor Nora Aurrekoetxea and curated by Vera Martín Zelich. The exhibition is part of the line of individual exhibitions started in 2025 by local and national artists such as Fuentesal Arenillas or Julia Montilla.
In parallel, the work of Moroccan artist Randa Maroufi, curated by Claudia Elies, is presented, covering more than a decade of her career. The exhibition revolves around the body as a social construct, shaped by political, economic, and institutional structures. This exhibition continues the international line initiated by the exhibition Like stones in the palms, embers and flame in February 2026, which also gave voice to artists from the Mediterranean context. For this exhibition, writer and activist Brigitte Vasallo and artist María Alcaide have been invited to lead two guided tours.
From February to May 2027, Jorge Satorre's solo exhibition will be presented, an installation that alludes to hegemonic imperialism through an extensive series of drawings halfway between scientific record and illustrated narrative.
From April to July, visual artist, performer, and writer Claudia Pagès Rabal will show a set of works including Paper Tears, the installation with which she currently represents Catalonia at the Venice Biennale 2026. The exhibition, curated by Rafa Barber, has the collaboration and support of the Institut Ramon Llull. Her research materializes in visual and linguistic devices such as video installations, works on paper, books, and other materialities.
In June, the annual edition of the finalist works of the Miquel Casablancas Prize call, organized and curated by Sant Andreu Contemporani, will be shown.
Public and educational program
Within the public and educational program, two of the projects that marked the beginning of La Fabra's new stage under the direction of Elies and the head of Programs, Jordi Ferreiro, are consolidated. These are the summer school Practicum and Interludi. In this sense, a new edition of the summer school took place in early July, bringing together artists Victor Jaenada, Ana Laura Aláez, and Anna Irina Russell with fifteen young artists in the process of professionalization.
At the presentation, the educational project Entranyes, developed with students from BAU, University Center of Arts and Design of Barcelona, was also highlighted. The proposal invites to discover the entrails of the Art Center, getting to know its internal work spaces first-hand. Along the same lines, the Interuniversity Program, promoted jointly with UB, Massana and BAU, creates a space with students to address issues that often fall outside the strictly academic scope.
In line with mediation projects, and hand in hand with the Citizen Council (an advisory body that accompanies the direction of the Art Center and strengthens its roots in the territory), this season several initiatives are promoted that strengthen ties with the closest context. Among these, the participation of La Fabra Art Center in Un museu fora del museu stands out, a project promoted by the Department of Culture of the Generalitat de Catalunya with MACBA, which brings a work by Xavier Miserachs to the Ignasi Iglésias – Can Fabra Library, expanding the meeting spaces between contemporary art and citizenship.
Along the same lines, La Fabra also participates in the program Eixart. Art i Salut, promoted by the departments of Culture and Health of the Generalitat de Catalunya. In collaboration with artist Luca Calderó and CAP Sant Andreu, the Center develops a research and mediation process around unwanted loneliness.
Another of the mediation lines that is consolidated this season is the project Desbordaments, which seeks to go beyond the walls of the Art Center and generate spaces for dialogue with people, groups and facilities in the territory. Currently, the third project is being developed, linked to the exhibition Atentament, by Patricia Esquivias, in collaboration with the Casal de Gent Gran Casa Nostra in Nou Barris. Based on the use of letters in the artist's practice, the proposal explores these exchanges as spaces for thought.
In addition, this year La Fabra will participate in Barcelona Dibuixa inviting artist Eva Fàbregas; it is also involved in the World Capital of Architecture with the exhibition Atentament and maintains collaborations with initiatives such as l’Ordit, the GRAF, Salmon and Literal festivals, Barcelona Gallery Weekend, La Nit dels Museus and 48h Open House.
Finally, and to conclude the presentation, Elies has reaffirmed his desire to "find the fit", one more year, between La Fabra and Fabra i Coats, with whom they share the old industrial site.
