An art festival on a boat docks in Barcelona with an extensive cultural program

A unique art festival has docked in Barcelona.

Until April 6, Festival Art Explora is offering the public the chance to enjoy exhibitions, talks, concerts, and more, all for free. All in the unusual setting of a boat docked in the Catalan capital's port. 

The traveling proposal sails the seas and oceans aboard the world's first museum ship, offering free access to artistic and cultural experiences for all audiences.

The festival is held both on board the ship and on terra ferma, in exhibition pavilions and a program that combines exhibitions, virtual reality, talks, film screenings, concerts and other activities.

The museum ship has traveled to a dozen countries since 2024 with the aim of expanding access to the arts.

Their aim, as explained to the Catalan News Agency (ACN) by deputy executive director of Art Explora, Agnès de T'serclaes, is to bring culture closer to people through “innovative and transformative” experiences that combine a more exhibition-like aspect with a “lively and interdisciplinary” programming.

After eleven stops so far and more than 350,000 visitors, Barcelona is its next stop until Easter Monday. “It's a city with a very important cultural offering, and that is why we were clear that we had to stop here,” T'serclaes says.

Museum ship

One of the main attractions of the proposal is the museum ship, designed by architects Axel de Beaufort and Guillaume Verdier, which can accommodate up to 2,000 visitors a day.

On board, the public can experience an immersive sound tour of a Mediterranean soundscape composed of natural, urban, and cultural environments recorded throughout the Mediterranean basin.

In addition, a virtual reality experience developed with Ubisoft allows visitors to travel back in time to Alexandria, Athens, and Venice, at the time of their greatest artistic and architectural splendor.

Exhibition pavilions

The Art Explora Festival is complemented by three major exhibitions.

‘Present’ is an immersive, large-format exhibition created in an exceptional collaboration with the Louvre Museum and dedicated to female figures of Mediterranean civilizations. The experience unfolds in a 16-metre-long tunnel covered with LED screens.

In the central pavilion, dedicated to modern and contemporary art, the exhibition ‘Sota L’Atzur’ explores the Mediterranean as a space of myth, memory, and tension through works by great historical and contemporary artists.

Finally, in the photography pavilion, ‘Countercurrent’ addresses issues of migration, exile, and hospitality in the Mediterranean region.

All ages

Curated by Rosa Lleó, the live program brings together performances, conversations, screenings and concerts developed in dialogue with the local art scene.

Free and open to everyone, it offers daily meetings between artists, audiences and ideas, turning the port into a space for exchange, debate, and celebration.

“In the mornings and at noon the program is more for families, including proposals such as, for example, a fish auction, or a walk through the port,” explains Lleó, “and in the afternoon and evening it is more focused on sound practices, which are not normally found in Barcelona.”

Among the most outstanding proposals are performances, concerts and DJ sessions by national and international artists.