Since November, the Disseny Hub Barcelona (DHUB) has dedicated to Banksy one of the most extensive exhibitions ever made about his mysterious figure, with more than 70 original works, among which are some of the most iconic, such as the girl releasing a red balloon or the demonstrator throwing a bouquet of flowers. Thanks to this exhibition, which has already attracted more than 26,400 visitors, many have stepped into this space for the first time, which has been working for over a year to position itself as the nerve center of creative industries in the city under the direction of Mireia Escobar.
In an interview with The New Barcelona Post, her first, Escobar explains that the DHUB is immersed in a new stage to reassert itself as the reference space for a sector that includes multiple disciplines, such as design, fashion, crafts, architecture, or audiovisual arts. Companies, institutions, and design schools must be able to find in the Disseny Hub a place to carry out their projects and tools to make them a reality. "It has to be the space that the sector feels as its home," she remarks. This is without forgetting the cultural offerings it programs for citizens, who must continue to discover this emblematic building in Barcelona and get used to visiting it more to see the exhibitions it organizes or to attend the activities it hosts.
The new direction of the Disseny Hub stems from the action plan that the municipal government approved at the end of 2019 to boost creative industries in the city, with an eye on this building, which was not exploiting its full potential. The measure did not foresee the arrival of the pandemic, which coincided with Escobar's debut in management. It was the first time this figure was created for the DHUB, with the aim of promoting it and better coordinating the different actors that coexist within it, such as the Museu del Disseny de Barcelona, the FAD and the BCD, as well as a municipal library.
"It has to be the space that the sector feels as its home," Escobar explains about the new direction of the DHUB.With Escobar, the DHUB has tripled its activity, both in the number of exhibitions and in programs, festivals, and conferences, a commitment that has also meant multiplying the number of attendees. Currently, the space dedicated to the exhibition is already full for 2022 and 2023, and work is underway on the programming for 2024 and 2025."This had never been done before," Escobar explains. Beyond Banksy, the DHUB has hosted exhibitions onBalenciaga's hatsor common objects that are present in our daily lives. This new stage also aims to promote architecture, as evidenced by the organization of an exhibition on Josep Miàs, which has attracted 12,500 visitors.
2021 has also been the time for the presentation of a new version of Barcelona Design Week and the celebration of festivals such as Llum BCN, FLIC, OFFF, Blanc! or Cruïlla XXS. If the new direction coincided with the outbreak of covid, the DHUB is currently registering 60% more demand to host activities, an increase motivated by the intensification being promoted, as well as by that exit from the crisis that has not yet arrived.
But it's not all exhibitions, conferences and festivals, the Disseny Hub also aims to promote new talent in the city hand in hand with design schools. Last year, it organized a program to redesign the city's shops together with different commercial axes, with the aim of adapting establishments to new needs and promoting them; another to devise small-format operas collaborating with the Liceu, which will present its results this Tuesday, and a third to include the needs of vulnerable groups in design precepts. It has also accompanied emerging fashion designers and brands to accelerate their growth, a program that is now facing its third edition.
New spaces in the DHUB
In this new stage, the Disseny Hub is also rethinking its interior, adding areas that must contribute to boosting it. One of them is a space that remained closed and unused when the building was finished in 2013, which can be seen from the entrance on Ávila street, next to the cafeteria. Originally, this space was supposed to be a restaurant, but it ended up being empty. With an area of 900 square meters, it will be opened for activities, yet to be defined. One million euros will be invested in this action and the works are expected to finish in 2024.
In the short term, the DHUB will also gain a store, where Barcelona designers and brands will have a showcase to test new products. Work to adapt the space it will occupy will begin this February. Finally, the spaces dedicated to design pop-up exhibitions will be reformulated, which serve to display temporary and small-format exhibition proposals and to highlight and give visibility to local talent present in the creative industries.
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