Swab Stairs: transforming the access stairs to Barcelona’s metro stations
The most international edition so far will take place from the 3rd to the 22nd of June and feature five foreign design schools
We go up and down them every day, without paying attention to them. However, the stairs to the metro are a perfect canvas on which to express creativity and ideas. That’s the lesson of Swab Stairs, an activity programmed within the framework of Swab Off, a cultural project by TMB in co-operation with Fujifilm. The idea is to give students at design schools in Barcelona and other cities in the world the chance to create work that will be exhibited on the main stairs of the city’s metro stations.
A new feature of this edition is the participation of several international schools in addition to the local participants. In total the event will feature the work of students from 10 design schools in Catalonia and from five international schools from the UK, Algeria, Argentina, Canada and Hong Kong. The aim of all this is to involve the academic world in the creative transformation of the urban landscape and of something as recognizable and every day as the steps to the metro. The initiative also gives students the opportunity to exhibit their work in a busy public place.
The participating metro stations include some of the city’s most charismatic and centrally located ones, which will get a completely different look for a few days. This initiative also coincides with other significant events in the city such as Design Week, and the Primavera Sound and Sonar Festivals, which will bring more potential visitors to the exhibition.
Swab Stairs
When: 3 to 22 June.
Where: Various metro stations in the city.
Price: Free.
For additional information, see the Swab Stairs website.