Art festival on a boat, Chez Matisse, Volta Ciclista: What's on this weekend

From concerts to cultural festivals, events and nightlife, there are countless things to do in Barcelona and around Catalonia this weekend. 

Here's a selection of some of the best plans and what's on this weekend.

Art Explora Festival | March 26-April 6 | Art | Moll de Barcelona, Port Vell

An art festival, on a boat in Barcelona port, all free. At each stop, the festival unfolds on board the museum-boat, at quayside exhibition pavilions, and across various venues in the host cities. Its program brings together exhibitions, performances, talks, film screenings, virtual reality experiences, and concerts. Since 2024, the festival has visited around ten countries, reaching out to audiences and making the arts accessible to all. At every stop, it builds connections between artists, curators, cultural institutions, associations, and educational organizations, fostering collaborative projects and promoting dialogue between cultures.

AR-DE Poblenou | March 27-29 | Open Doors | Poblenou, Barcelona

Poblenou Urban District celebrates the 10th edition of AR-DE, the circuit that brings together art and design in Barcelona’s Creative District. In this edition, 13 cultural spaces will take part, offering exhibitions, talks, new collection presentations, and guided visits. From March 27 to 29, visitors will be able to discover first-hand the projects of local and international artists and designers, strolling through the neighborhood’s spaces and enjoying a complete cultural experience. AR-DE has established itself as a key platform for showcasing Poblenou’s creative spaces and fostering connections between creators and the public.

'Recovered from the Enemy' | February 20-June 28 | Exhibition | MNAC

During the turbulent Civil War and early dictatorship years, Catalonia's National Art Museum of Catalonia was one of many sites used as a depository for artworks that the Franco regime tagged with a label, 'Recovered from the enemy'. A new exhibition, open until June 28, explores the dual role of the museum during these years, first as a site for the Catalan government to collect precious artworks and heritage documents. The backs of many of the 146 pieces are on display, showing the various labels on frames, including some that read 'Recovered from the Enemy,’ symbolizing the forceful implementation of a new political order.

Chez Matisse | March 27-August 16 | Exhibition | CaixaForum, Barcelona

An exploration of Henri Matisse's trajectory, evolution, scope, and influence on international artists and avant-garde movements. The exhibition highlights part of the immense dialogue surrounding his name in 20th- and 21st-century art, from his first self-portrait to the artistic freedom of his later paintings and gouaches.

An American in Paris, by George Gershwin | March 27-29 | L'Auditori

Entirely focused on American musical production, the concert opens with a work by Gunther Schuller, conceived in the 1950s: a Symphony for Brass and Percussion evocative of imposing landscapes. It is followed by a change in musical language with Leonard Bernstein’s Serenade for Violin, completed in 1954. Scored for string orchestra, harp and percussion —in addition to the ever-present solo violin, here played by James Ehnes— the piece was described by its creator as being close in spirit to Plato’s Symposium: “a series of declarations in praise of love”, with each movement evolving from elements of the previous one.

Radical Market | March 27-29 | Market | Fira Cornellà

Thousands of products waiting for you at the best prices. Fashion, accessories, footwear, urban, cosmetics, home, everything! Entrance €2.

Mercat del Ram | March 27-29 | Fair | Vic 

The Mercat del Ram is one of the most emblematic and traditional events in the central city of Vic. More than a fair, it is a meeting point where tradition and innovation go hand in hand to project the future of the primary sector. For centuries, the Mercat del Ram has united the rural world, livestock, gastronomy, and the territory, consolidating itself as an exemplary model of agroecology in Catalonia.

Volta Ciclista a Catalunya | March 23-29 | Sports | Around Catalonia 

The week-long tour of Catalonia comes to a conclusion on Sunday in Barcelona. Before that, riders will race from La Seu d'Urgell to La Molina on Friday, and from Berga to Queralt on Saturday. Established in 1911, it's the 4th-oldest bike race in the world still running.  

D'A Film Festival | March 19-29 | Film Festival | Various cinemas 

The D’A – Festival de Cinema de Barcelona is one of the city’s cultural trademarks and will introduce an international panorama of the finest contemporary auteur cinema, combining the discovery of emerging new talents with internationally established directors and films.

 

Joan Miró: Cirlces | March 13, 2026 - March 12, 2028 | Art | Joan Miró Foundation

A new exhibition reorganizes the Miró collection and invites visitors to reinterpret the artist's work through Joan Miró's creative process rather than a traditional chronological or thematic narrative. The show presents 102 works from across the artist's career and will run for two years, with some pieces rotating every six months.

Live music

JUSEPH | March 28 | Razzmatazz

The Dead South | March 29 | Razzmatazz

Mobb Deep | April 5 | Razzmatazz

Tame Impala | April 8 | Palau Sant Jordi

Elena Rose | April 8 | Razzmatazz

Rosalía | April 13, 15, 17, 18 | Palau Sant Jordi

Mad Professor | May 4 | Sala Apolo

Kiefer Sutherland | May 5 | Sala Apolo

Beginner ukulele workshop | January 24, March 21, April 11 | Music workshop | Music mueseum, Barcelona

Although it is known as an instrument originating from the Hawaiian Islands, the ukulele is the result of the influence of the guitarrons of the Iberian Peninsula in America and Polynesia. It is a small instrument, easy to play and playful: without a doubt, the favorite musical companion of children and adults. In this workshop, you can learn to play it and make some songs.

We Are Seventeen | March 6-May 17 | Exhibition | CCCB

What does it mean today to be seventeen? In this exhibition, over 300 young people explore who they are, what they feel and how they see the world, by means of photography, cinema and the word. “We are seventeen. A collective portrait” takes a look at the places, experiences and concerns of seventeen-year-olds who have produced portraits of themselves and photographed their immediate surroundings. The show includes photographs, films and texts in the first person, genuine perspectives that shake off adult prejudices and the codes habitually used to represent adolescence.

'The Perpetual Movement of the Wall' | February 13-September 6 | Art | Tàpies Museum

The Tàpies Museum has opened a new exhibition, 'The Perpetual Movement of the Wall', exploring what Antoni Tàpies' exhibitions were like in the 1950s. Not only are the artworks recreated, but also how they were displayed and how critics and the public responded.

Tradicionàrius International Folk Festival | Until March 27 | Music festival | Several venues

The 39th edition of this famous traditional music promotes folk music in all its forms and fosters artistic and musical alliances among traditional folk artists. This year is covers the sound of the Pyrenees from the Basque Country to Aragon, Occitania and the Catalan-speaking lands. Throughout the festival, there are several events scheduled in many venues including the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Sant Jaume Square, and the Fabra i Coats - Creativity Factory.

New works by Banksy | Until December 2026 | Exhibition | Moco Museum

The Moco Museum Barcelona recently unveiled a new exhibition featuring the British pseudonymous artist Banksy. 'New works by Banksy,' showcases 25 artworks, most of them new additions to the museum’s existing collection of the artist’s pieces. It is the largest exhibition of Banksy’s work ever held in Spain and includes two previously unseen pieces in a museum setting. All the pieces share a common theme: power and its disruption, a recurring motif in the artist's oeuvre.

Rodoreda, a Forest | Until May 25 | Exhibition | CCCB

This exhibition explores the imaginative universe of Catalan writer Mercè Rodoreda through artworks, manuscripts and immersive installations. Open Tuesday to Sunday from 10am to 8pm, tickets are priced at €6 (€4 reduced), with free entry on Sundays from 3pm to 8pm.

Visit 50,000-year-old Siberian mammoth | Every day | Museum | CosmoCaixa, Barcelona 

Barcelona's CosmoCaixa Science Museum unveiled the latest addition to its exhibition: a large six-meter-long and 3.5-meter-tall Siberian mammoth. The mammoth is between 40,000 and 50,000 years old and will now be part of the permanent exposition. 

‘Extraterrestrials. Is there life beyond Earth?’ | Until August 30 | Science exhibition | CosmoCaixa science museum

'Extraterrestrials - Is There Life Outside Earth?' delves into topics such as our place in the cosmos, the meaning of the concept of life, and how literature and cinema have shaped the collective imagination about what form alien life could take. Visitors begin by discovering Earth's place in the cosmos. The exhibition then explores, from a historical perspective, the great philosophical debate between those who argue that life is unique to our planet, and those who believe in the existence of other inhabited worlds.