The C3A Building in Córdoba, Home to Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía

Sometimes the line between an art center and a museum can be fairly blurry, as evident by Córdoba’s Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía. Lacking any kind of admission fee, the ultra-modern edifice with its beehive-shaped façade is home to local and international artists alike. Surprisingly, the various artists do not only present their works here, but also engage in the entire creation process at the building’s cutting-edge workshops.

By: Omri Westmark

Date: 17:00 27.06.22

Last Update: 19:41 19.02.23

Art Urban Córdoba Spain Europe & Arctic Circle

You’ll be forgiven for mistaking Córdoba’s brand-new center of contemporary art with a museum. After all, on first glance, the building’s notable façade coupled with its exhibition spaces do not imply otherwise. But in practice, it couldn’t be furthest from the truth as this place behave inherently different.

Perching along the Guadalquivir riverbanks, the Centro de Creación Contemporánea de Andalucía or simply C3A, is in fact an educational center as well as a hub for creators from all over Spain and beyond. In contrary to typical museums, where artists merely showcase their end-product, in C3A, creators are expected to use the place’s state of the art facilities to execute their wildest ideas.

With over 1,000 square meters of workshops and audiovisual labs, this center serves as an art factory, where technology is incessantly used to create software-based paintings, oddly-shaped sculptures and vivid digital items. Curiously, some of the center’s works of art whose shape and texture are incredibly complex were made using 3D scanner and printer.

The art center’s beehive shaped façade, as viewed from Av. Campo de la Verdad Bridge

photography by: Omri Westmark

Lying side by side, an orange orchard and C3A’s perforated façade

photography by: Omri Westmark

The building’s main entrance

photography by: Omri Westmark

As of 2022, the center hosts the “Abundant Futures” exhibition

photography by: Omri Westmark

The exhibition focuses on environmental issues, criticizing our current lifestyle as a great contributor to the world’s impending doomsday

photography by: Omri Westmark

A work of art made of recycled materials

photography by: Omri Westmark

A series of opaque and semi-transparent rectangles, part of a wider art piece

photography by: Omri Westmark

A series of pillars showcased at the building’s main corridor

photography by: Omri Westmark

Besides its obvious artistic merit, C3A also boasts an unusual architectural design which makes it a modern landmark of the city. According to the pair of architects who designed the 4-story building, it is inspired by the region’s Islamic and Hispanic legacy, as its wide-scale space supposedly mimics the spatial layout of the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba.

The center’s brutalist-style interior features a long corridor which leads to each and every exhibition room, whose bare concrete walls are naturally lit by a polygonal skylight. In stark contrast to its greyish gut, the building’s sleek façade is entirely covered with prefabricated GRC panels. The white panels are partially perforated with hexagonal holes as if the edifice was a gargantuan beehive. Purportedly reminiscent of Islamic patterns, the many openings play a second role as they also flood the inner parts of the center with ample sunlight.

It might come as a surprise, but as part of C3A’s outward openness, visitors are not required to pay any admission fee. The center hosts several temporary exhibitions, each of which focuses on a different topic. If you want to inform yourself about the current exhibition and the participating artists, please check C3A’s website for additional details.