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Mercè. Gegants de Barcelona

50 things to do in Barcelona in 2014: autumn

Highlights of Barcelona's autumn 2014 events

Written by
Time Out Barcelona Editors
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Which of Time Out's 50 great things to do in Barcelona in 2014 are on in autumn? A massive international jazz fest, a month of dance, a major gastronomic fair, a fashion and design fair, more of the Basketball World Cup, an important cardiology congress, Barcelona's biggest citywide party and more.
European Society of Cardiology Congress
  • Things to do
  • Exhibitions
Europe’s major event for medical professionals in the cardiovascular field takes place every summer in the trade fair zone in L’Hospitalet, on the outskirts of Barcelona. The event brings together thousands of visitors, who can choose from among more than 500 talks and conferences, looking at all the latest research. The 2014 edition is putting the spotlight on the theme of ‘Innovation and the Heart’ and offers Clinical Practice, Experts and Abstract Sessions on guidelines, the most challenging cases faced by leaders in the field, and controversial topics in the discipline. Attendees will also have the opportunity to find out about the latest developments in scientific research and even to ‘Meet the Legends’ in a programme designed to provide younger practitioners with a unique opportunity to interact with some of the key figures who have shaped cardiology as we know it today.
2014 Basketball World Cup
  • Sport and fitness
  • Stadiums
The celebration of the Basketball World Cup in Spain in 2014 will give Barcelona, one of the six host cities, alongside Bilbao, Granada, Gran Canaria, Madrid and Seville, another opportunity to demonstrate its ability to organise world-class sporting events. The main venue for the event, which will run from the 30th of August to the 14th of September, will be the Sant Jordi arena, with capacity for 17,960 spectators. Among the teams competing for the ultimate prize in world basketball will be Spain as host nation; the USA as gold medallist at the last Olympic Games; France, Lithuania, Croatia, Slovenia, Ukraine and Serbia representing Europe; Mexico, Puerto Rico, Argentina and the Dominican Republic representing the Americas; Angola, Egypt and Senegal representing African basketball; Iran, the Philippines and Korea as the top Asian teams; Australia and New Zealand from Oceania; and four wild cards.
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Festival Piknic Electronik

Festival Piknic Electronik

Family-friendly, open-air festival of electronic music on Montjuïc every Sunday afternoon in summer. Something more than just a picnic, Piknic Electronik aims at reconciling two apparently contradictory worlds and provide a way to bring family and friends together in a pleasantly green environment while enjoying electronic music. Activities designed specifically for kids can include anything from skateboarding lessons and inflatables to hip hop classes and recycling workshops.
San Miguel Mas i Mas Festival

San Miguel Mas i Mas Festival

This tasteful music festival spans the summer months, and has gone from concentrating on Latin sounds to providing a bit of everything. Concerts take place at various venues, including the Palau de la Música Catalana, the Liceu Opera House, the Jamboree jazz club and even local art and history museums. Past acts have included Brazilian legend Hermeto Pascoal, Level 42, techno DJ Angel Molina, and some classical music. More of a musical marathon than a traditional-style festival and practically single-handedly responsible for revitalising the city's once spartan summer music agenda, especially during August, it’s ideal for open-minded music fans willing and able to appreciate everything from jazz, techno and soul to world and classical music.
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Festes de la Mercè

Festes de la Mercè

This five-day festival opens with giants and dragons in the Plaça Sant Jaume. It’s followed by more than 600 events including sardanes (traditional Catalan dancing) and correfocs (fire-running). Other highlights include dazzling fireworks displays, free concerts, a seafront air show, sporting events including a swim across the port and a regatta, and a heap of activities for children. Many visitors are enchanted by the processions of gegants, large hollow figures made of papier-mâché and carried around by groups of enthusiasts, which were first introduced into the festivities at the beginning of the 20th century. Those brave enough to want to experience the fire-running and see the processions of firework-wielding devils should attend suitably equipped and protected against flying sparks by wearing adequate footwear, hats, protective glasses and thick long-sleeved shirts.
FADFest

FADFest

This festival of all things related to design is a celebration of creative excellence, handing out awards for the year’s best designs in the fields of architecture, interior design, graphic design, advertising, industrial design, the handicrafts, art and fashion. Visitors can see the exhibition featuring all of the winning and short-listed designs, getting an invaluable insight into what’s happening in the field today.
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CSIO Barcelona 2014
  • Sport and fitness
  • Equestrian
Barcelona is set to become the capital of the equestrian world once again when it hosts the 103rd edition of the Furusiyaya FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final. This will be the second time that the city plays host to the most important event in show jumping’s yearly calendar, featuring the world’s best riders. The venue will, once again, be the grounds of the city’s Real Club de Polo.
Fòrum Gastronòmic
  • Restaurants
Two major fairs in the Spanish catering and food sectors, the Gastronomic Forum and Hostelco (International equipment for restaurants, hotels and catering), are teaming up to hold the 2014 edition of the forum at Barcelona’s Gran Via trade fair complex from the 20th to the 23rd of October. This is the first time that the Gastronomic Forum will be held in the Catalan capital (until now the host cities have always been Girona and Santiago de Compostela in Galicia). The aim of this collaboration is, while preserving the essence and identity of both events, to make the biennial Barcelona fair a major platform for the exchange of knowledge and networking among professionals in the sector and a showcase and benchmark for the industry at the international level, thereby promoting exports by enhancing and harnessing the image of Catalan and Spanish cuisine abroad.
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Sâlmon Dance Festival
© Andrea Pizzalis

Sâlmon Dance Festival

This innovative dance festival will be back for its third edition in 2014, complete, as ever, with new proposals and artists with fresh ideas who are not afraid to swim against the current. The festival offers an insight into the work being done by both local and international artists in the framework of the artistic residencies offered by the El Graner centre for dance creation and the European modul-dance project led by Mercat de les Flors, which includes 19 other dance houses. The festival agenda consists of a jam-packed programme of events lasting two weeks, all demonstrating different formats and an enormous diversity of approaches to the theme of the body and movement, alongside shows, laboratories for professionals, spaces for reflection, and spaces for meetings between creators and the general public.
Mercat de Mercats

Mercat de Mercats

The ‘Market of Markets’ is a gastronomic fair that brings together food and wine producers from all over Catalonia. The stalls are arranged in front of the Cathedral, and a €12 ticket allows you to choose four tapas from whichever stalls you like, while €10 gets you four small glasses of wine or cava (plus you get to keep the glass). Some 30 market stalls, 50 local food producers, 12 of the city’s bars and restaurants, and 16 wineries took part in last year’s edition. Amateur chefs should note that they can get great tips on how to perfect their dishes from world-renowned Catalan chefs. It’s a weekend that offers the chance to discover and taste the products sold in the markets, enjoy a variety of tapas and wines and get to know the gastronomy of Catalonia much better.

50 things to do ... by season

Winter
  • Things to do

Highlights of Barcelona's winter 2014 events 080 Barcelona Fashion Running over five days, 080 gives the Barcelona fashion scene a biannual shot in the arm, thanks to the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya. It primarily showcases local designers, from up-and-coming ateliers such as Natalie Capell to globally big-hitting brands such as Mango. The fashion-focused fair also tries to be a living reflection of all of the bubbling creativity that exists in the city – a creative vivacity that finds expression in the designers from all over the world who have made their home and set up their businesses in trend-setting neighbourhoods like the Born, the Raval and the Barri Gotic. As well as providing an unbeatable showcase for new and upcoming trends in the city, 080 Barcelona Fashion also aims to transform the show into a benchmark event in terms of the design, production, distribution and commercialisation of the products emerging from the sector, as well as building closer ties with industry and with NGOs and Barcelona’s social fabric. Davant l'horitzó The Fundació Joan Miró is hosting an exhibition dedicated to the horizon as a recurring element in the history of modern painting from the 19th century to the present. The exhibition aims to highlight the defining power of the horizon, delve into its enigmatic duality, review the changing nature of its representation, and reflect on its role as a paradoxical mirror of the mutations of history and culture. The title of the show i

Spring
  • Things to do

Highlights of Barcelona's spring 2014 events Le Corbusier: An Atlas of Modern Landscapes One of this year’s successes at New York’s MoMA, this exhibition of the work of one of the most respected architects of the 20th century transfers to Barcelona’s CaixaForum. Covering the full range of his career, the exhibition will not look at his creations and ideas, via photographs, sketches and models of some of his large scale projects, but also his life – through a selection of documentary footage. All of these myriad elements allow us to follow and understand the way in which Le Corbusier envisaged and imagined his environment. The exhibition takes us from his early watercolours and drawings, made on his travels, to his landmark work as part of the International Style. It also allows us to appreciate the sheer breadth of his interests, encompassing his work as architect, interior designer, artist, city planner, writer, and photographer, presenting everything from his theories of urban planning, which are still influential today, to his designs for furniture and even tools. 25th BCN Guitar Festival Now in its 25th year, the BCN Guitar Festival doesn’t stand still and has expanded to include not only classical guitar and established virtuoso performers, but an increasing amount of alternative bands and musicians. It has also become more international over time, and in 2013 featured stellar names like Eels, Ron Sexsmith, Lucinda Williams and Marisa Monte, among others. The festival ha

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Summer
  • Things to do

Highlights of Barcelona's summer 2014 events Post-Picasso: Contemporary Artists' Response to His Art The Museu Picasso will host an exhibition of 80 works by artists from around the world, in a look at the ways in which Picasso’s work influenced, and was explored by, later generations. These pieces will include work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Rineke Dijkstra, Rachel Harrison, among many others. For them, as well as for a remarkable and hitherto unacknowledged variety of artists from all around the world, from Africa, Asia, the Middle East and South America, as well as from Europe and North America, who are working in a range of mediums that run from video and photography to painting and sculpture, engagement with Picasso’s work has provided a liberating and polyvalent model that allows them to address the phenomena of the globalization and diversification of contemporary art in our century. Summer Nights at La Pedrera Nits d’Estiu (Summer Nights) sees live jazz from local bands on the magical rooftop terrace of Gaudí’s undulating apartment block, in the shadow of his warrior-like chimneys. Concerts take place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, and the price includes a visit to the ‘Espai Gaudí’ exhibition and a glass of cava. A fixed tapas menu is also available. It’s a great chance to take in the essence of Gaudí and his most emblematic work, together with a large and varied programme of live jazz music. While the visit to the Espai Gaudí, a museum exhibition located in th

Autumn
  • Things to do

Highlights of Barcelona's autumn 2014 events European Society of Cardiology Congress Europe’s major event for medical professionals in the cardiovascular field takes place every summer in the trade fair zone in L’Hospitalet, on the outskirts of Barcelona. The event brings together thousands of visitors, who can choose from among more than 500 talks and conferences, looking at all the latest research. The 2014 edition is putting the spotlight on the theme of ‘Innovation and the Heart’ and offers Clinical Practice, Experts and Abstract Sessions on guidelines, the most challenging cases faced by leaders in the field, and controversial topics in the discipline. Attendees will also have the opportunity to find out about the latest developments in scientific research and even to ‘Meet the Legends’ in a programme designed to provide younger practitioners with a unique opportunity to interact with some of the key figures who have shaped cardiology as we know it today. 2014 Basketball World Cup The celebration of the Basketball World Cup in Spain in 2014 will give Barcelona, one of the six host cities, alongside Bilbao, Granada, Gran Canaria, Madrid and Seville, another opportunity to demonstrate its ability to organise world-class sporting events. The main venue for the event, which will run from the 30th of August to the 14th of September, will be the Sant Jordi arena, with capacity for 17,960 spectators. Among the teams competing for the ultimate prize in world basketball will be S

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