CATALONIA

Grand Tour, from 2024 to 2026, a yearly three-week art walk of about 300 kilometers, is open to the public. The participants walk together with resident artists of all disciplines. It is organized by Nau Côclea. Every day participants walk some kilometers (15-20) with artists that have different proposals to share with the walkers. In the destinations local people join.
People look, listen, read, hear and participate: poetry, dance, installations, performances, music and they explore the territory together with local communities. Grand Tour focuses on small villages and lowly populated areas, bringing international artists, art and culture to places that are not easily accessible and stimulating dialogues between local and international communities.
The walk is open in all formats: people can walk all the journey or some days only. Grand Tour has been organised since 2015 and has about 50 walking participants each year, next to local public and communities. Since 2022 Grand Tour follows a new methodology, rehearsed since 2020: the artists do not come to present “a product”, they do not come to put on a show or to show a finished work, but they spend time with the people of the villages and with the walkers to deploy a process of shared creation. Much more than a workshop, it is a common creative space.

photo by Monica Sans

photo by Marie Bruneau

photo by Marie Bruneau 2

photo by Nuria Mañe

The Grand Tour 2025

Grand Tour 2025: walking across Catalonia through art, community and landscape

From August 10 to 31, Grand Tour 2025 walked 255 km across Catalonia, from Badalona to the summit of Taga, passing through the Maresme, Montseny, Guilleries, Osona and the Ripollès. Organised by Nau Côclea Centre for Contemporary Creation, this collective walking journey weaved together art, ecology and hospitality.

The route included actions, performances, workshops, rituals and shared moments, with contributions from artists such as Christina Schultz, Luce Choules, Carla Farreny, Alba Sauleda, Marc Caellas and Frances Bartlett, alongside collectives like Concèntrica, Cardant Cultura, Can Bonamic and Projecte Mauna.

As every year, the Grand Tour included a travelling library, collective meals led by musician and cook Jordi Rallo, and a support vehicle.

Read Frances Bartlett's (AiR) report
Read Marc Caellas' (AiR) report
Read Luce Choules' (AiR) report

The Grand Tour 2024

Grand Tour 2024: The year we entered Barcelona.

Grand Tour has reached its tenth edition: it is an experiment with a history. 2024 has been the year we have entered Barcelona. We have broken the tradition of travelling around the territory in a spiral, with the intention of making it easier for walkers from European countries to reach the starting point by public transport. The Puigcerdà-Barcelona route starts in the French border. It is well connected by train and bus and it has allowed access to the Grand Tour in a single day from most European countries. The tenth anniversary also fulfils one of our most important challenges: to enter Barcelona and not precisely through its most touristy or greenest areas but through Montcada and Besós with all the psychogeographical, urbanistic, ecological, historical and social connotations that this implies: in doing so we have affirmed our adherence to the Gilles Clement’s Third Landscape. 

Read the Report
Read Anna Piatou's (AiR) report
Read Alba Sauleda's (AiR) report