Drap-Art’25 in the Gòtic and more!

29^th International Festival of Sustainable Art of Catalonia

From November 20 to December 21, 2025
in iconic locations in the Gothic and La Ribera Quarters of Barcelona

Drap-Art presents a month of exhibitions, cultural actions, and free activities in public spaces, galleries, and landmark buildings across Barcelona’s Gothic Quarter. The festival brings together local and international artists who, through their works, transform discarded objects into new forms of expression and critical reflection, giving them a second life.

In this 29th edition, Drap-Art highlights the intersection between creativity, activism, and environmental awareness, inviting us to rethink the human and cultural values that should guide us towards global sustainability. This year also pays tribute to the pioneers of sustainable art, revisiting key figures who paved the way in material reuse and the critique of consumer society.

The festival thus consolidates itself as a meeting point and space for dialogue between art, society, and the environment, connecting Barcelona with an international network of committed artists and audiences.

Artists

In Memoriam. Pioneers of Sustainable Art
Santa Àgata Chapel, Barcelona History Museum
Opening: November 22 · On view until December 21

Contemporary art engaged with our times reflects the growing awareness of climate change and the dangers it entails. However, the use of discarded objects and materials in artistic practice is not new: since the early 20th century, Dadaism and Surrealism had already placed the found object at the center of aesthetic and symbolic debate. In Catalonia, this tradition took strong root during the second avant-garde movements and left a decisive mark on the country’s art history.

The exhibition In Memoriam offers a journey through the work of three Barcelona-based artists who marked a turning point in the reuse of everyday objects with critical, poetic, and socially engaged intent. Daniel Argimon i Granell (1929–1996) was a key figure in Catalan informalism, who experimented with matter, collage, and the action of fire, incorporating industrial and domestic waste into works that ironically questioned consumer society. Amèlia Riera i Toyos (1934–2019) developed an introspective and symbolic universe, her work marked by an obsession with death, esotericism, and feminist critique, with highlights including her series of recycled and manipulated mannequins such as Eroticones (1968) and Electrotèrmiques (1978). Josep Guinovart (1927–2007), the most renowned of the three, was a prolific and multifaceted creator who transformed barrels, wood, boxes, and discarded objects into material compositions rich in memory, craftsmanship, and social and political commitment.

Curated by Raquel Medina de Vargas, PhD in Art History and specialist in this generation, the exhibition seeks to reaffirm the relevance of artists who, through their practices, paved the way for a dialogue between art, matter, and society that resonates today more strongly than ever.