The mirage of exploring Antarctica (and taking a dip) without leaving Barcelona

BarcelonaFrench filmmaker Luc Jacquet (Bourg-en-Bresse, 1967) won an Oscar for The Emperor's Journey (2005), a documentary about the journey emperor penguins take to reproduce. Following that experience, he launched a new adventure in 2019 with Icebreaker Studios and began using other narratives to explain what life is like in Antarctica. Jacquet, who has spent more than three years on the frozen continent, is showing visual and audio recordings of his latest expedition in the Cúpula Arenas de Barcelona, in the form of an immersive exhibition.

Barcelona is the first stop onAntarctica Experience, directed by Jacquet and produced by Giga and Icebreaker Studios. On the terrace of the Sand Dome, you can immerse yourself in icy Antarctica, as if it were once a torrid time outside. First, visitors must use their imagination and then enjoy the many landscapes of a continent also suffering the ravages of climate change. The exhibition presents an idyllic view of Antarctica. There's the sea, the ice, and above all, the penguins, 25 species. Visitors can see how some of these, like the emperor penguin, roam the continent, diving and swimming with great agility and elegance, and emerging from the icy water with just a leap. The wildlife is abundant: whales, seals, albatrosses, petrels... The camera watches the penguins very closely. The exhibition even conveys the sensation of being on ice with a play of mirrors, a slightly cooler temperature, and the sound you might hear if you stepped on an iceberg.

The most spectacular thing is underwater

One of the most spectacular parts is the underwater dive. The camera dives 120 meters beneath the ice to reveal a completely new underwater landscape filled with fascinating creatures. The team responsible for the images is French diver Laurent Ballesta, who has won numerous awards for his underwater photography. "Wearing special suits and a specially designed device, Ballesta and his team were able to spend 3 to 5 hours at approximately 120 meters underwater, at temperatures ranging from one to two degrees below zero: it's the first time images have been captured at such a depth in Antarctica," explains Antoine Gutierrez. Antarctica Experience you can see, for example, Colossendeis megalonyx, a giant sea spider with a small body but endless legs that house its internal organs.

At a depth of about 50 meters, the lack of light prevents algae from growing. Instead, the seabed becomes a meadow of sea feathers. In some places, tapestries form, while in others, fields spread with hundreds of thousands of different shells. You can also see crinoids (sea lilies), which are related to starfish, and giant isopods that resemble marine beetles capable of swimming and walking on the bottom. There are many more species: gorgonians, crustaceans, soft corals, sponges, small fish... Authentic marine gardens that contrast with the ice labyrinths.

"This exhibition is half dream, half ode to nature. Antarctica Experience invites visitors to hear the strange wonder of setting foot on an unreachable continent," the French filmmaker says in a press release. "We don't aim to be a museum, but we do try to convey the fascination with Antarctica and provide some facts to spark visitors' curiosity," explains Gutierrez. There are some ice tongs on display.

Antarctica Experience (admission is €17.90) can be visited throughout 2025 and 2026, and after that, the plan is to travel to other places. The space will then be occupied by another immersive experience: "It could be about nature, science, art... but these are projects that will be specifically designed to be viewed with an immersive experience," says Gutierrez. In total, there are 82 minutes of original images, showing many kilometers of trails.