The projection on the wall: What audio-visual architectural mapping says about Catalan identity

Audio-visual architectural mapping transforms the façades of buildings into something completely different. Projectors and speakers coordinate computer-controlled images and sound in order to impose a visual and audio remapping of the surface. Through the projection of simulated shadows, fixed architectural elements can be made to appear to move. The practice of superimposing dynamically changing information over city space offers a new way to write and tell stories that inextricably links architecture, technology, public space and urban planning. Drawing on recent studies that have linked urban spectacles, screens and public space, this article explores the relationship between audio-visual architectural mapping and the production of identity in contemporary Catalonia.