Judit Carrera, director of the CCCB, emphasized the four guiding principles of the 2026 program: diversity of voices, support for local creation, simultaneous international projection and local focus, and the linkage of disciplines. The center expects to close the year with nearly half a million visitors, surpassing the 470,000 registered in 2024, thanks in part to the ongoing exhibition dedicated to Mercè Rodoreda.

The first major exhibition, The Cult of Beauty, will run from May 20 to November 8. In collaboration with the Wellcome Collection in London, it will examine the evolution of the concept of beauty throughout history, exploring the dialectic between the ideal and the material—specifically, between normative and dissident bodies. The exhibition will feature works by artists such as William Hogarth, Isidre Nonell, Colita, and Laura Aguilar.

The second major theme will be The Atomic Era, a co-production with the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris. This project will address global and Spanish nuclear history, from the first detonation in 1945 to current rearmament. The exhibition will feature nearly 250 works, including pieces by Salvador Dalí, Marcel Duchamp, Yoko Ono, and Eduardo Chillida.

Other central topics include the city, with the conference series Tourist Territories (April and May), and a tribute to the architect Josep Lluís Sert (June 10 and 11). Additionally, a program will be dedicated to immigration in Catalonia and the Raval neighborhood, featuring the symposium African Diasporas in Cities (February 18-20) with philosopher Nadia Yala Kisukidi.

International guests include writer Jeanette Winterson (February 26), presenting the translation of One Aladdin, Two Lamps, and Richard Ford (May 26), marking the publication of his latest book. The international residency program will host the exiled Russian writer María Stepanova, the Palestinian journalist Mariam Barghouti, and the anthropologist Eduardo Viverios de Castro.