The Gala–Salvador Dalí Foundation has launched Platform Dalí, an ambitious international programme designed to promote dialogue, research and creation between contemporary artists and scientists at leading scientific institutions. The Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB) is one of five participating such institutions.
Inspired by Salvador Dalí’s pioneering engagement with scientific thought and his search for a new humanism, the initiative seeks to explore new ways of understanding the world through knowledge and imagination. As the Foundation’s president, Jordi Mercader, notes, Dalí’s visionary ability to link art and science continues to inspire a renewed reflection on the opportunities of the present and the challenges of the future.
Platform Dalí is directed by Mónica Bello, who previously led the prestigious Arts at CERN programme for a decade. According to Bello, the initiative aims to establish a stable framework in which art and science can jointly approach the complexity of the world through multiple lenses.
Dialogue, exchange and direct interaction between disciplines are at the core of this initiative, inspired by Dalí’s unique way of contemplating the world.
Scientific partnerships
Platform Dalí is based in Barcelona and has established collaborations with five scientific centres of excellence in the city that cover life sciences, marine research, supercomputing, fundamental physics and photonics:
- Barcelona Biomedical Research Park (PRBB)
- Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC)
- Barcelona Supercomputing Centre–National Supercomputing Centre (BSC-CNS)
- Institute of High Energy Physics (IFAE)
- Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO)
These centres bring together an international community of more than 4,000 scientists engaged in cutting-edge research and global knowledge networks. Platform Dalí intends to progressively expand its activities to other European and international cities and research centres.
The PRBB contribution
The PRBB will contribute its expertise by offering artists access to laboratories, data and scientific mentoring to explore together concepts related to life sciences.
The PRBB and its centres have previously participated in other initiatives bringing together art and science, for example several artistic residencies at the MELIS-UPF or at the CRG as well as exhibitions.
Being part of Patform Dalí will be a fantastic opportunity to continue this dialogue and exchange between disciplines that not always seem to meet eye to eye, but that are more connected than one would expect. Dalí’s longstanding fascination with the frontiers of science – the Catalan artist described himself as a fish swimming between ‘the cold water of art and the warm water of science’ – is a perfect inspiration.
“The collaboration between the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation and the PRBB will celebrate the profound connection between art and science that defined Dalí’s visionary perspective. His fascination with biology, genetics, and the structure of DNA anticipated a dialogue that continues to this day in our research on life. At the PRBB’s research centers, we share this curiosity to unravel the complexity of life from multiple perspectives. Platform Dalí is an invitation to continue exploring, together, the limits of imagination and knowledge”, says Jordi Camí, Director General of the PRBB.
“At the PRBB’s research centers, we share this curiosity to unravel the complexity of life from multiple perspectives. Platform Dalí is an invitation to continue exploring, together, the limits of imagination and knowledge”
Jordi Camí, Director General of the PRBB
A long-term programme of activities
Starting in 2026 and running up to 2029, Platform Dalí will offer an annual programme including artist fellowships and residencies, encounters, residencies and workshops in laboratories, collaborative activities between scientists and artists and public programmes across partner institutions.
The first participating artists include:
- Tania Candiani, Mexican artist exploring visual, technological and sonic languages
- Israel Galván, celebrated Andalusian dancer and choreographer
- Taller Estampa, Catalan collective focused on digital technologies and more-than-human environments
- George Mahashe, South African artist and academic examining relationships between art, science and systems of knowledge transmission
A full cohort of five residents and two fellows will be completed with three additional artists to be announced during 2026.
The programme will culminate in a major international exhibition in 2029, showcasing works created throughout the residencies and demonstrating how the interactions between art and science reflect and extend Dalí’s scientific vision.
New ways of seeing
Platform Dalí was officially presented at La Pedrera, Barcelona, yesterday, 2 December 2025, in an event attended by representatives of the cultural sector and researchers from the participating centres.
The event unveiled the programme’s visual identity, created by Catalan designer Javier Jaén, known for his symbolic and distinctive visual language. The identity draws on Dalí’s atomic vision of reality: the letter “D” appears decomposed into multiple moving spheres that evoke transformation, fragmentation and ambiguous spatial shifts—an expansive symbol aligned with the programme’s mission of generating new ways of seeing.
