The Institut Ramon Llull’s grant line for directors and programmers of international festivals, venues and institutions in the fields of visual arts, design and architecture, launched in 2024, has this year doubled the number of applications received, reaching thirty-six. This is more than twice as many requests as the previous year, coming from centres and festivals in twenty countries.

Among the beneficiaries of this grant line are leading international institutions, including the Ars Electronica Festival (Linz, Austria), the Athens Digital Arts Festival – ADAF (Athens, Greece), Les Rencontres de la Photographie (Arles, France), the Istanbul Biennial (Istanbul, Turkey), the Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels, Belgium), Mextrópoli (Mexico City, Mexico), the Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts (Ljubljana, Slovenia), BIENALSUR (Buenos Aires, Argentina), the Gulbenkian Modern Art Centre (Lisbon, Portugal), the Signal Festival (Prague, Czech Republic), the Kunsthalle Münster (Münster, Germany), the Jeu de Paume (Paris, France), and the Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien – MUMOK (Vienna, Austria).

In this call, the most frequently programmed artists are Clàudia Pagès Rabal, who in 2025 will take part in five major events around the world, and Mónica Rikić, who will appear at three international festivals.

Pagès Rabal, recently selected to represent Catalan culture at the 2026 Venice Art Biennale, will present her new work Five Defence Towers at the Chisenhale Gallery (London, United Kingdom), at the 18th Istanbul Biennial (Turkey), and in a solo exhibition at the Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien – MUMOK (Vienna, Austria). Her piece Aljubs i Grups—created for Manifesta 15 Barcelona Metropolitana—has also travelled to the Fribourg Biennial and INDEX – The Swedish Contemporary Art Foundation.

Other notable artists from the Catalan cultural sphere featured with the support of these grants include Eva Fàbregas, Carlos Bunga, Joan Fontcuberta, Rosa Tharrats, Max de Esteban, Playmodes, Marc Vilanova, Laia Abril, Daniel Steegmann Mangrané, and Jordi Colomer.

Some of the main exhibitions featuring Catalan participation scheduled to date include: Joan Fontcuberta and Taller Estampa at the Jeu de Paume in Paris; Marc Vilanova at The Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh; Rosa Tharrats at the Kunsthalle Münster; Andrés Galeano at Photoszene Köln; Mónica Rikić at the 24th International Image Festival of Colombia; Claudia Pagès Rabal, Irene de Andrés, and Agnès Essonti at the Fribourg Biennial; Olga Subirós, Tarta Relena, and Maria Arnal at the Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts; Daniel Steegmann Mangrané at WIELS; Ariadna Guiteras at CAC Brétigny; Marc Vilanova and Maria Arnal at Ars Electronica 2025; Laia Abril at the Stockholm Triennial; and the exhibitions by Cities Connection and the Post-Like collective at the Mextrópoli Festival in Mexico City.

The aim of this Institut Ramon Llull programme is to promote and support the participation of Catalan culture in leading festivals, biennials, museums, and centres of art, architecture, and design around the world.