"Casa Batllo: Living Architecture" it's a'generative artwork monumental building inspired by the iconic facade of Casa Batlló, created by Turkish-American artist and director Refik Anadol as the highlight of Christie's auction at Rockefeller Plaza in New York on May 10, 2022.
“Casa Batlló: Living Architecture” (estimate: 1 million – 2 million dollars) it is the only NFT which will be offered within the Christie's 5-day series. The artwork “Casa Batlló: Living Architecture” is the first – in the UNESCO World Heritage Site – to take the form of a live NFT (evolving). 10% of the proceeds from the sale of this unique piece will be donated to institutions Associació Aprenem Autisme and Fundació Adana. “Casa Batlló: Living Architecture,” a monumental, multi-sensory experience, will be installed outdoors in Rockefeller Plaza during Christie's 20th/21st Century Marquee Week exhibition starting April 30, as well as via map projection and exhibition at Casa Batlló in Barcelona on May 7, three days before the auction.
Exactly one year ago, Casa Batlló has launched its new tour immersive and award-winning work of Gaudí's masterpiece, conceived as a journey – with an exclusive soundtrack, audio story, installations and digital rooms – that redefines the museum experience and connects to new and younger audiences from around the world. For the grand finale of the museum tour, Casa Batlló commissioned Refik Anadol the work “In the Mind of Gaudí”, to be performed in the first six-walled LED cube room in the world, a 360-degree experience with visual sculpture within a screen space set up in the basement of the building, for instant success. “Casa Batlló: Living Architecture” will both bring this facade by Gaudí to the forefront of our collective cultural memory and establish its place in the digital space in this historic sale.
Casa Batllo: Living Architecture
Casa Batlló is a masterpiece by Gaudí, one of the greatest architects of all time, created in his heyday. Conceived in its artistic maturity and total creative freedom, Casa Batlló is a tribute to happiness, a marine-inspired canvas and a dreamlike world that evokes nature and fantasy. Its facade is the gateway to this symbolic universe and its contemplation inspires feelings that continuously dialogue with the light and color in the background. Its spectacular nature leaves no one indifferent and makes passers-by stop and look at it at any time of the day. Exuberant and marine, it contains involuntary sculptures, recycled materials and decontextualized objects that he has transformed into art.
A historic auction for neurodiversity: Casa Batlló is committed to seeking integration and diversity of workers. As of early 2021 has a full neurodivergent visitor care team of over 50 people (with autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, etc.), thanks to strategic alliance with social organization specialists. Therefore, the artist will donate a part of the proceeds of the auction to two local institutions specialized in global assistance and family support for people with neurodivergence: Aprenem Autisme Association and Adana Foundation. The Association has an annual membership of more than 6.000 people working towards the inclusion of people with autism through a family assistance program, and the Foundation provides ongoing care to more than 900 children and young adults, from early diagnosis to treatment planning.
Refik Anadol (born 1985, Istanbul, Turkey) is a media artist, filmmaker and pioneer in the aesthetics of data and artificial intelligence. His work places creativity at the intersection of man and machine. Taking the data that surrounds us as the primary material and neural network of a collaborative computer mind, Anadol paints with a thinking brush, offering us radical visualizations of our digitized memories and expanding the possibilities of architecture, narrative and the body in motion .
