Satellite eventsCultural Events
Cultural Events
will take place on
8-12 April 2024
both at the Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB)
and in various locations of Barcelona
Between 8-12 April, we invite you to explore a rich array of exhibitions, film screenings and immersive experiences scattered across the stunning venues of the CCIB and partner locations throughout Barcelona.
We recognize the profound impact that art and culture can have in fostering awareness and inspiring action. Therefore, we are delighted to present over a dozen captivating events that encapsulate the essence of our ocean, its beauty, and its fragility.
Welcome to the cultural heart of the 2024 Ocean Decade Conference in Barcelona!
For an interactive map showing the locations of cultural events, please visit our Venues page.
Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB)
Please note that exhibitions taking place at the CCIB are only open to registered Conference participants.
The Polar Portal
10-12 April 2024 All day Barcelona International Convention Centre (CCIB)
The Polar Portal is an interactive sound installation where the audience will be able to engage with the worldwide sound art project Polar Sounds. A collaboration between the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) and the Alfred Wegener Institute for Marine and Polar Science (AWI) and the international sound project (Cities and Memory), Polar Sounds brought over a hundred artists from all over the world together, to produce original compositions using acoustic data collected by scientists in the Arctic and Southern Oceans.
Casa Batlló
MedFoto: El mar i les persones
8-12 April 2024 09:00 – 18:30 Botiga, Casa Batlló
MedFoto is a photographic exhibition that shows the Mediterranean Sea and its immediate surroundings, obtained with respectful attitudes towards people, animals, plants and the natural environment. The images want to highlight the fragile relationship that exists between the Mediterranean Sea and people and reveal the natural and landscape values of the sea.
Disseny Hub Barcelona
Art for environmental advocacy: Discovering the deep sea through new forms of knowledge emerging from the exchange between art and science
9 April 2024 19:00 – 21:00 Disseny Hub Barcelona
The event explores the question of the deep-sea from a hybrid perspective, entangling scientific research with artistic speculation. Aiming at creating a space for horizontal discussion, it is structured around a workshop activated by experts and visitors. The creative processes of diverse art installations will be shared with the participants, who will enter the deep-sea epistemic community, trespassing the borders traditionally defining the dissemination of scientific knowledge and exploring how the empathy generated through artistic experiences can effectively turn this unknown region into a profoundly relatable one. A performative conference will close the event highlighting art’s potential for triggering change.
Institut de Ciènces del Mar
Monitoring the ocean: Photo exhibition
8-12 April 2024 All day Institut de Ciènces del Mar
The objective of the proposed exhibition is to raise awareness of the general public on the challenges and costs of the fieldwork for extracting data from ice, from the ocean, from the atmosphere, in digesting data, and feeding data into climate models, to ensure that data can be ingested and used for predictions and weather forecasts.
Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona
The Grand Challenge: Designing for Ocean & Cities
6-12 April 2024 All day Lobby, Museu de Ciències Naturals de Barcelona
The Grand Challenge: Designing for Ocean & Cities exhibition presents innovative design solutions for London’s most pressing ocean-related issues. Close to 700 students at the Royal College of Art (RCA) worked across London’s boroughs on topics such as flooding, pollution, protection of marine ecosystems, and the sustainable and equitable consumption of ocean resources. The winning projects exemplify interdisciplinary collaboration, co-design and place-based approaches. The Grand Challenge is part of NEMO (New Economic Models for the Ocean), a design-led, human and planet-centred initiative aiming to build a sustainable and safer future with the ocean. RCA is an Ocean Decade Implementing Partner.
Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya
Naufragis: Història submergida (Shipwrecks: Subgmerged history)
8-12 April 2024 All day Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya
The Museu d’Arqueologia de Catalunya (MAC) opens its doors to all attendees of the Conference. From the 8th to the 12th April, if you have an Ocean Decade accreditation, you can visit the whole museum for free. On the 8th and 9th, we will be giving two guided tours of our underwater archaeology exhibition “Shipwrecks: Submerged history”, an immersive exposition that highlights the importance of safeguarding and studying archaeological remains found underwater. Come and discover the heritage that lies under the sea!
Museu Marítim de Barcelona
Sailing through the vast skies and boundless seas: A cultural exhibition of Chinese nautical technology
6-14 April 2024 All day Botigues de la Generalitat, Museu Marítim de Barcelona
Nautical technology of ancient China and the Ocean Decade, the Maritime Silk Road and marine scientific expeditions: our exhibition will vividly showcase Chinese nautical history, the integration of global marine culture and the development of marine science. The well-designed interactive sessions will make you fascinated at the diversity of culture and the benefits brought by the ocean to mankind.
Sounds of the Ocean
8-12 April 2024 16:00 – 19:00 Museu Marítim de Barcelona
Sounds of the Ocean is an award-winning immersive experience that invites you and your family to the heart of the deep blue sea. In a society burdened with stress, this transformative project offers calm and rest. It is an invitation to forge a deep connection with the enchanting life that dwells beneath the waves. The experience combines sounds of whales and dolphins, original music, immersive visual art and ocean imagery to guide the audience on a mindful underwater odyssey.
Port Olímpic
Parlem del mar per parlar de nosaltres (Let’s talk about the sea to talk about us)
6-12 April 2024 All day Espai Mestral, Port Olímpic
The exhibition “Let's talk about the sea to talk about us” is an exhibition created by the Barcelona Nautical Capital Foundation that talks about the relationship between Catalonia and the sea and how it impacts us in many areas as a society, especially in culture, gastronomy, sport, sustainability and innovation. In addition, through a very spectacular virtual reality experience we explain the history, values and impact of the America’s Cup, which will be held in Barcelona this summer (22 August to 27 October).
Salvamar Cirkus
7 April 2024 12:30 – 13:30 Espai Mestral, Port Olímpic
SalvaMars Circus is a show with an environmental theme for all audiences that addresses, with a lot of humor, the ways in which we see and experience the sea and gender roles. It takes place in a marine environment, with a circus tent, a lighthouse and surrounded by waves. In this setting, accompanied by an original soundtrack of classical music, a pair of clowns portray various characters and marine animals, and through mime, they will make us reflect with humor on renewable energy sources and the accumulation of waste dumped into the sea as a consequence of human activity.
Ocean&Climate Village featuring the exhibition 'I, the Child of the Ocean' by EU4Ocean
8-12 April 2024 All day Sala Expo, Port Olímpic
The Ocean&Climate Village exhibition is an interactive and educational experience aimed at exploring the nexus between the ocean and climate. It features different areas focusing on various aspects such as oceanography, a Changing Climate, Biodiversity, and Multiple stressors, seeking to engage visitors through interactive displays, encountering young scientists, and emphasizing the importance of ocean conservation and the need for sustainable solutions. The exhibition, in collaboration with "Watch and Listen: Children share their Blue Education experiences!", features EU Blue Schools as best practice in engaging younger generations and raising awareness to create the future custodians of the ocean.
Port Vell
Tuiga experience
5-14 April 2024 All day Reial Club Nàutic, Port Vell
This is a maritime event aimed mainly at young generations from primary school to university. The event takes place in two exciting parts: dockside activities followed by an experience at sea. This educational experience aims to inspire and sensibilize, giving an insight into maritime activities and sustainable management of the Mediterranean sea to the inquisitive minds of the next generation.
Mediterranean MPAs... What else?
6-15 April 2024 All day Moll de Bosch i l’Alsina, Port Vell
What are the pressures and threats facing the Mediterranean Sea today? What is a Marine Protected Area (MPA) and what is its purpose? Who are the stakeholders in these marine areas? How can we better manage the natural resources of this nourishing sea in the future? These are just some of the questions posed throughout the exhibition, based on five main themes: (1) the Mediterranean sea, a heritage to be preserved; (2) MPAs, a long-term solution; (3) MPA stakeholders; (4) actions; and (5) the future. Answers available during the visit in four languages: French, English, Spanish and Catalan, using a smartphone.
Our Ocean from Space
8-12 April 2024 All day Portal de la Pau, Port Vell
Discover the fragile beauty of our ocean as viewed from space and how scientists and local communities are engaged to protect this vital resource against the consequences of climate change. The exhibition is co-produced by UNESCO and the European Space Agency, with the support of ASI, ICGC and Mercator Ocean, and the contribution of CNES, SHOM, Planetek and CMCC.
The 2024 Ocean Decade Conference is co-organised by:
