History of IDEAL

Poblenou Historical Archive

“Cine Ideal (“Ideal movie theaters”) opened its doors for the first time in 1917, and it became one of the most important cinemas all around Barcelona. It was popularly known as “El Rellisquín” or “The slippery”, because of the old skating rink that used to be there.

In the middle of the 20th century this cinema became a very important popular leisure spot, in the weekends long queues were formed in front of the doors of the building, causing that some spectators had to see the movie standing. The Ideal had 2500 seats, and kept open until May 13th of 1984 when ceased its activity after projecting Psicosis II and Paco el seguro.

The space reopened the summer of 1985 as a movie set and until 2014 there were filmed a bunch of series and television shows such as: La Palmera, Tres i l’astròleg, Lo Cartanyà, Força Barça o Polònia, and much more.

In 2019 this emblematic building opens its doors again to continue telling and creating new stories. In this new phase of IDEAL it wants to be turned into the future of cinema and museums. A space where art, technology and science unite to create new audiovisual content where the spectator is the center of the action.

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA

The space

At IDEAL you can find experiences for all ages, in addition the center has a variety of activities and specialized learning programs for each type of public (kids, older, families, sectoral public, students,…)

The center has almost 2000 m2 dedicated to the exhibition, production and training of digital immersive arts. The main floor has 1500 m2: 800m2 for large format exhibitions, and also 3 multipurpose spaces to produce diverse acts and experiences.
On the second floor there are the offices and the artists in residency space, since IDEAL is also a center focused on developing local talent to create its own productions.

IDEAL, based in Barcelona, is the first center in south Europe to be dedicated to the production and exhibition of digital arts. With special emphasis in the immersive digital art, it’s a unique space that combines production of audiovisual works in diverse formats, exhibition and training in this area.

This emblematic building of the old neighbourhood of “La Plata”, opens its doors again in 2019 to become the future of museums and cinemas. IDEAL is a center dedicated to digital culture, with a unique technological equipment in Spain, that experiments with immersivity by using audiovisual projections, augmented reality and holography to create a new relationship between
art and society.

Fiction and Memory
1917 - 2019

The inhabitants of El Poblenou describe the IDEAL as a public space where life ignores its own identity … “Such a large and elegant cinema in a rather miserable industrial town” …, as a place where El Poblenou ceases to be a neighborhood “where nobody lived to be one full of people, where everything happened “…

Documentary on the history of IDEAL programmed as part of the Loop Bcn Festival

A project by

ARTISTIC PARTNERS

TECHNOLOGICAL PARTNERS

ACADEMIC PARTNERS

With the support of