Ús Barcelona was a nomadic festival. Between 2014 and 2018 it intervened every year in a space of the city that had lost its social function —vacant lots, factories, a prison— to recover its value through urban art and citizen participation. It was not just an urban art festival: it wanted to activate public space by opening it to other creators (designers, illustrators) and to break the accelerated pace of the city to provoke a forced slowdown.
Organised by Rebobinart with the support of Barcelona City Council and the Government of Catalonia, it ended its journey in October 2018 at the former Model prison. This entry closes the Ús Barcelona category and gathers its memory.
Ús Barcelona in figures
- 5editions, 5 disused spaces
- 12,300visitors at Pere IV (2015)
- 20,000visitors at La Model (2018)
- 20+artists and collectives at La Model
- 2016Time Out Awards nomination
The five editions
2014 · Glòries
First edition (2 February) on the former Encants Vells lot, with live painting by local and international names, structural formats, interactive experiences and workshops for young people. The Ús philosophy is born: “a new use can always be found, you just have to look for it”.
2015 · Pere IV axis
Second edition (9 and 10 May) on a stretch of Carrer Pere IV, between Fluvià and Selva de Mar, with 12,300 visitors. The edition focused on participation: months of prior work with the Taula Eix Pere IV, the Poblenou residents’ association, L’Escocesa and the Esplai del Sagrat Cor to build a collective story of the neighbourhood.
2016 · Can Ricart
Third edition (5 November) at the Can Ricart factory complex, a National Cultural Heritage site closed to the public for years. The festival opened its doors as the starting point of the site’s recovery, before handing over to the University of Barcelona. With the Taula Eix Pere IV, the UB, the Sant Martí district and the Heritage Commission. The year of the Time Out Awards nomination (Best city initiative).
2017 · Poblenou
Fourth edition (15 July) on a Poblenou lot destined to become an urban garden: 12 hours of art, music, activities and food with Hyuro, OVNI, Roadsworth, Gleo, Edjinn, Miquel Santasusana, Juan Cris, Stay Hungry Stay Foolish, Fab Lab and OOSS. Hyuro’s large-format mural stayed permanently on the site.
2018 · La Model
Fifth and final edition, 2 to 7 October, within the Esquerra de l’Eixample neighbourhood festival and co-organised with Mediaurban and Mediapro: 8,500 people entered the prison and 20,000 passed along Carrer Provença. Murals by Paula Bonet, Elisa Capdevila, Sergi Delgado & Co, BYG, Twee Muizen, Ampparito, Kevin Ledo (Quebec), Octavi Serra, Ghizlane Agzenai, Matu, Perrine Honoré, Emily Eldridge and James D. Barranger; installations by Bornay, Margalef and Domestic Data Streamers; the Jail Lab of the Seeway, Esarq UIC and Elisava schools; the EngARTjolats exhibition by Montana Colors; the Cinema a la Galeria series with Fernando León de Aranoa, Manuel Huerga and Jaume Roures; and the Womart Day with Paula Bonet and M. Àngels Cabré. The walls of Carrer Rosselló hosted Rebobinart again in 2022 and 2023 with the Wall Labs.
The artists
Ús Barcelona opened public space to creators who had never painted there —Guim Tió, Amaia Arrazola or Reskate— and brought out a new profile of illustrators turned urban artists. Each edition has its own page with the complete photographic documentation on the Ús Barcelona line.
Press coverage
- betevé · Oct 2018Ús Barcelona, Festival d’Art i Espai Públic a La Model
- Barcelona Cultura · 2018Ús Barcelona dinamiza La Modelo
- AVV Esquerra de l’Eixample · 2018Ús Barcelona s’acomiada des de La Model
- Xarxanet · 2022Rebobinart reivindica el potencial de l’art urbà com a eina de transformació social
- Website of the last edition2018.usbarcelona.com
The legacy
Each edition made it possible to rethink the city’s public, industrial and historical heritage by revealing the aspects that go unnoticed. The Ús Barcelona philosophy —art as an activator of disused spaces— became Rebobinart’s way of working, and we find it again today in community murals, in the work in the neighbourhoods, in the intervention at La Model and in the urban art festivals we produce for cities and brands, such as the Kromatic Festival (2025).
