Wrapped in gold space blankets, a 600-year-old convent glistens anew

Each October, A Cel Obert festival takes over the public spaces in Tortosa, Catalonia, transforming the city’s overlooked corners into dreamy exhibition spaces. 2021’s big winner was ‘Gold Diggers’ by designers Nicola Dario Baldassarre, Salvatore Dentamaro, Francesco di Salvo and Ilyass Erraklaouy.

Evoking a sense of modern-day alchemy, the artists covered the stones of a medieval convent’s patio with 112 thermal sheets hovering 1.3 meters over the ground. The work shifted between warm golden tones in the well-lit courtyard, and cold silver ones in the shadowy bits of the building, reflecting on architecture’s dependence to sunlight. Specific bits of the sheets were perforated to uncover details of the convent’s facade, as well as to invite visitors to peek through the holes and place themselves at the center of the installation.

Founded in 2014, A Cel Obert employs modern art and design to offer new ways of experiencing architectural heritage.