The Dalí Foundation launches an art and science platform with five major research centers in Barcelona

BarcelonaSalvador Dalí became interested in science in his teens. He began reading scientific articles, and later, his scientific interests became evident in his work through double images and optical illusions, as well as his paranoiac-critical method and his "nuclear mysticism" period. Now, those in charge of his foundation have just launched Platform Dalí, an art and science program involving five Barcelona centers: the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), the Institute of Marine Sciences (ICM-CSIC), and the Institute of High-Altitude Physics (PRBB). The program will begin in 2026 with artistic grants and residencies for the first selected creators: Mexican artist Tania Candiani, choreographer and dancer Israel Galván, Taller Estampa, and South African photographer George Mahashe. His work will be featured in various annual events and in a major exhibition of his pieces and those of Dalí, organized in collaboration with the La Caixa Foundation. "We are simply continuing Dalí's passion for science and art. It was often unclear which of the two intellectual pursuits held greater sway in his interests," says Jordi Mercader, president of the Gala-Salvador Dalí Foundation. Platform Dalí does not rule out taking a retrospective look at the major scientific advancements of the 20th century. "The goal is to support contemporary artists, but we have a significant legacy, the entire 20th century, to examine," says Mónica Bello, art historian and curator and director of Platform Dalí, who hopes the new platform will complement other programs. "With the mediation programs, we will explore the parallels between the history of art and the history of thought and science," Bello adds. "Today, science has changed a great deal; we have much more diverse and interdisciplinary centers, and a great opportunity to work in all these disciplines with these five centers, which are at the forefront of knowledge in all important areas of life."

Tania Candiani (Mexico City, 1974) has developed her work across various disciplines, including textiles, engineering, artifact creation, machine modification, sound, language, and literature. Candiani uses these disciplines "to tell stories, to find ways to communicate, to create physical spaces where the public can enter and be moved by a story." Regarding Dalí, she considers him "a catalyst for radical imagination." And from the Dalí Platform, she highlights "the possibility of working from five research centers that focus on very diverse areas" and the "physicality" of her work and that of the other creators, unlike the usual work in scientific centers.

Bringing science closer to the general public

For Bello, Dalí represents a "very contemporary" attitude of the artist who "breaks his discipline and opens doors, who has no qualms about changing his surroundings, transforming himself, and adopting artistic strategies of any kind and nature to continue asking questions." The program will be an opportunity for the exchange of knowledge and to contribute to popularizing science. "In the last century we have seen great scientific revolutions in the field of quantum physics, the physics of energies, the physics of nature and that of creativity. Little by little, these revolutions have permeated society, but scientists tended to isolate us - we would stay in our compartment, and this one is not the way of doing things. We have to pose in contact with society, with culture, with other areas interested in science," warns Juan Ignacio Cirac, director of the Max Planck Institute for Quantum Optics in Germany and member of the platform's advisory committee.