News / 9 September, 2025
Tabakalera and Kursaal mark five years of collaboration with the screening of a series of large-format audiovisual installations curated by Irma Vilà i Òdena, as part of Irekiak Gallery Weekend.
The four pieces of digital art, produced by Tabakalera specifically for this project, will be exhibited during Irekiak Gallery Weekend from 12 to 15 September.
To celebrate Tabakalera's 10th anniversary, the centre is reaffirming its commitment to contemporary digital creation through a joint initiative with the Kursaal Congress Centre. Both entities are commemorating five years of continued collaboration. Since 2021, they have produced and exhibited digital works promoted by Tabakalera and projected onto the iconic façade of the Kursaal. These projections are part of the official programme for Irekiak Gallery Weekend 2025, which will be held from 12 to 14 September in San Sebastian.
Over the past five years, leading artists and collectives have created site-specific pieces using generative processes, creative coding, and visual programming. Each intervention has established a unique dialogue with the contemporary architecture of Rafael Moneo's building. In 2025, the exhibition is bringing together four of the most outstanding works from recent years.
From Jaime de los Ríos to Hotaru Visual Guerrilla
The programme's first projection took place in 2021 with Crimson Waves, by San Sebastian-based artist Jaime de los Ríos, a pioneer of algorithmic art in Spain and founder of the Arteklab laboratory. The work recreated the waves and reflections of the sunset in San Sebastian through generative geometries. The Kursaal's façade was transformed into a fluid, ever-changing surface reminiscent of a digital painting. The piece explored the connection between nature and the city through contemplative rhythms and visual structures inspired by mathematical patterns.
In 2022, visual artist and programmer Alba G. Corral presented Entremaliat, an abstract installation constructed from algorithms developed over more than a decade. Light became a central element in a visual narrative open to multiple interpretations. The title, which in Catalan refers to mischief, suggests a playful attitude toward visual creation. The piece was a hypnotic experience in which colour and form evolved organically and emotionally, without directly representing —but instead evoking— nature, living beings, and dreamlike landscapes.
The 2023 edition featured Gradients, by the Playmodes collective, internationally renowned in light installations and audiovisual sculpture. In this proposal, the Kursaal façade acquired a new perceptual dimension. Through a minimalist interplay of colour, form, and sound, the piece reshaped the architectural perception of the building. The projection animated the structure into an active body, endowed with movement and expressiveness. Playmodes created a visual trompe-l'œil effect that transformed the building into a vast touchscreen.
In 2024, the San Sebastian-based collective Hotaru Visual Guerrilla, made up of Jone Vizcaino and Ander Ugartemendia, presented Lurrazala, a piece based on landscape photography and digital abstraction processes. The title, which means “the skin of the earth” in Basque, alludes to the changing surface of the planet. The work was constructed with images taken along the Gipuzkoan coast. By projecting them onto the Kursaal, a parallel was established between the geological texture of nature and the architectural skin of the building. The reflection of the projection on the water added a poetic dimension to the whole.
Irekiak Gallery Weekend
These four pieces will be exhibited once again during Irekiak Gallery Weekend, from 12 to 15 September, between 8:30 p.m. and 9:45 p.m. The public will be able to rediscover them as part of a collective exhibition in the urban space. Irma Vilà i Òdena, a specialist in art and technology, has curated the last two editions and is also curating this year's projection. Her career includes collaborations with CCCB, Cosmocaixa, Ars Electronica, and ArtFutura, as well as intense academic activity at the UOC. The curator highlights the experimental nature of the project and its ability to connect citizenship, art, and public space.
