Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona

Plaça dels Àngels, 1
Barcelona, Spain

Contributed by Project for Public Spaces

This art museum is a terrifically successful skateboard park that draws skaters from all over Catalonia.

Why It Doesn't Work

This was such a tragic missed opportunity. This art museum could be such a fantastic public gathering place for the diverse Raval community that surrounds it, an expression of contemporary art to add a special quality to a dense urban neighborhood, and a bringing together of people from all over the world for a combination of art, culture, and local residents. Instead, it is a terrifically successful skateboard park that draws skaters from all over Catalonia.

We liked the architecture and the exhibition spaces, although the art itself was lackluster enough that there were more people looking at the skateboarding outside than inside the entire museum. What could be a great example of a contemporary building fitting into an ancient walled city and contributing to its community life and culture is instead truly out of place.

As with so many buildings of this ilk, the main problems were few uses on the ground floor (to engage and attract pedestrians), and an insistence that the plaza design reflect the minimalist building design. A purely visual space invites only purely one-dimensional uses. Suburban buildings relish making a big design statement – and they have the space to do so (for better or worse). Urban buildings need to support dynamic human activity, and therefore need appropriate and sensitive design. Apparently, the architect did not understand that responsibility.

Contact Info:

Tel: 34-93-412-08-10

User Comments:

> Add your own comment about Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona

12/10/03 Brandon Smith said:: Why does the writer of this article have such a negative tone towards skateboarding? Skateboarders are some of the most creative and artistic people on the planet, as is demonstrated in their uncanny ability to look at nearly any structure and see some sort of potential that is invisible to the average person. What sort of appreciator of art is one who condemns those with a different style of expression?
01/28/04 Giselle Sperber said:: Isn't a space for skateboarders better than an empty plaza? The photos show a space full of activity and people. Granted, the space provides for only one community group, the skateboarders, but that's better than nothing.
03/28/04 toni soler said:: Though it is true that skateboarders have a too high presence in the square, this place is always full of activity and people. It's truly not a hall of shame public space.
05/24/04 nate smith said:: If I wasn't a skateboarder I wouldn't have known what skateboarders call "MACBA" is. I wouldn't have cared. I don’t know what kind of "rival" community you’re talking about. The author obviously doesn’t know what kind of community the skateboarders are. MACBA along with Sants train station have been in hundreds of skateboard videos. Any current day video MACBA and Sants will be in it once at the very least. Skaters, professional and non-professional alike, have traveled from all over the world to skateboard in those plazas. This is because Barcelona is rated by many to be the best place to skateboard in the world.
08/31/04 alex g. said:: I just went to Barcelona a month ago and I loved it. I skated everyday. I stayed at the Barcelo Sants and skated every night and day at the "Estacia Sants" - it was absolutely fantastic!! If some of you guys went there please contact at ageahel_91@hotmail.com. I wanna discuss this spot with guys who went there!!
11/10/04 andrea hamann said:: You say there needs to be an expression of contemporary art to add a special quality to a dense urban neighborhood? The day I was at the 'Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona' there was this most amazing contemporary dance performance in the plaza. Sorry to contradict you, but it made for the most amazing performance space. With the backdrop of the contemporary building and the aging buildings adjacent, the open plaza left space for creativity, for installations and performance. The space was filled with people, old and young, local and tourists from everywhere, the audience sat on the ground, on the wall. It brought together a combination of art, culture, and local residents.

Sometimes you don't need to fill a space with elements to allow it to create a presence. Even the following day, it was awesome to just sit on the wall and watch the world go by!
11/02/05 Daren Crabill said:: I agree with prior posts that this is indeed a SUCCESSFUL space. The many different types of users; skaters, kids from a nearby school, tourists, locals, and others coexist in this space and are respectful. Certainly there are skaters here, but in my opinion adds to this space as art in their own right. People pause and watch as if they were an art exhibition in themselves. People help make a place successful, and it is accomplished here.
11/09/05 maria paz mozó said:: I agree with the previous comments, I went there this year, it was amazing, I felt that I could see the real life of Barcelona, not just touristic life, IÂ’m not a skater... but I don't understand whatÂ’s wrong with them? Why does their presence make that place a bad place?
But I went to Sants StaciÃ² too, and it is a bad place, because it was empty and very dirty.
03/22/06 cate brandt said:: I do not agree that this is an unsuccessful space. On a hot day in July last summer, it was packed with people and played host to an impromptu dance performance. Restaurants and shops adjacent provide plenty of street life, and the openness of the square is a welcome change from the narrow streets of the nearby Gothic Barrio.
06/05/06 megan may said:: Having been to the square last year I agree with the article, the building is out of place and does not invite people in off the street and yes the art is of little substance, compared with surrounding areas in the city the square is used by very few people, it has the potential to be a great space but unfortunately fails to deliver in the many respects outlined in the article.
07/20/06 pavel novoryta said:: Ive never been to "MACBA" but i know it very well from ountless numbers of skate videos...thats the best place to skate - fellaz know:-)...ive been to barcelona last year and the people and the atmosphere were realy great...all in all everything was GREAT!!! Skateboarding is the new way of a progress of youngs..*ReSpEcT*
10/05/06 michael farley said:: wow. thank you for giving me an example of the kind of intellectual snobbery that i'll forever try to avoid. every time i've been to the plaza it's been full of people enjoying themselves- even at 3 am. sorry that they aren't retired tourists talking endlessly about parc guell (which, by the way, IS ridiculously inaccessible.) Youth culture is what keeps cities vibrant; tourists are merely passers-by who probably live in the suburbs of whatever metropolitan area they call home.
12/19/06 Seleneah More said:: I disagree with this Hall of Shame nomination. I believe Richard Miere building is sensitive to the old city. The white building is the same height as existing buildings. Furthermore it is set back from these via a square . The approach and entrance to the building are pedestrian friendly. My only criticism of the building is that there are no artists studios (graffiti artists outside excluded). I level this criticism at all cultural institutions that give more floor space to administrators than artist. It seems illogical that skateboarding doesn't qualify as a dynamic human activity? In the three months I lived in El Raval the space was used by locals for all types of social engagements at all hours. I wish more public spaces were this welcoming and safe!
06/21/07 alex white said:: Every person I ever talk to who lives or has live in Barcelona have only praised the Plaza del Angels and the accompanying MACBA. To me it is one of the most vibrant plazas in Barcelona. It represents the community, and allows a place for RAVELERS to come together and socialize. There is an echo that rings out within the plaza which mixes the sounds of sketeboards and conversations. Some of the best skateboarders in Europe come to Barcelona, as it is an incredible place for them to enjoy their sport, and better yet at times you have musicians there, while at others you have people relaxing in the sun. It is a dynamic place that can be defined only depending on the day of the week and time of day. It is one of the few places that allows for Barcelonas skateboarding scene to thrive, and as skateboarding is part of the identity of Barcelona, it would be ignorant to try and squash it, or move it completely to an isolated site. Why? Because urbanism cannot be FABRICATED, and in reality public spaces should be created to allow existing and fomenting life and identity to flourish. This review of the MACBA disappoints me as it illustates this type of perspective. That public space should be politically correct and sterile. This is indeed why many complain about places like singapore, because it is too programmed! The MACBA museum is inded nothing special on the inside. But it does create a solid comtemporary face to close the plaza. In my eyes it effectively allows for the merging of old and new architecture, and succeeds in making this molding a thing of itself. That is the identity of barcelona. redefining the old with the new, and this is why young artists and innovative people flock to barcelona. Because the built environment is interesting and bold.
01/10/08 Carmen Clusellas said:: I disagree with this commentary. I live in Barcelona, like 20 minutes walking from MACBA. I go there once or twice a week. I like to sit there with friends and chat looking all the people and the skaters. It is an amazing combination of art, culture, local residents and non-local.Skateboarding gives life to it if not it would be pretty empty. Every skater knows MACBA and many foreigner skaters come to Barcelona just to skate here. It is a great place, the best in the world for me 'cause I have spent so many hours there.
09/03/09 Daniel Hadley said:: As a planning student and a long time skateboarder, I also disagree with this assessment. MACBA is a wonderful example of how skateboarders imbue modern architecture with life and activity. They come from all over the world to skate MACBA (thus bolstering the local economy). In the process of skating, they learn to appreciate modernist forms, both for their smooth skating surfaces and for their elegant aesthetics. It is this kind of anti-skateboarder thinking that drove substantial investment from Philadelphia (via Love Park). Skaters should be appreciated for the creative energy they bring to their impromptu urban performances; not called out in an assault on high modernism.