Primordial Light was first presented in 2025 at the Basilica of the Sagrada Família. In 2026, the project returns to the same space in a second version, developed as a site-specific audiovisual installation and conceived in close collaboration with the Basilica. The work deliberately adopts a kitsch aesthetic reminiscent of the picture postcard: idealised images, intense colours, skies, flowers and landscapes create a popular and recognisable imagery connected to the ways in which the legend of Saint George has been represented and transmitted over time.
Creating a work for a space such as the Sagrada Família means engaging with an architecture whose presence is fundamental. The scale of the nave, its verticality, light, materiality and symbolic dimension shape the intervention. The project also incorporates a particularly significant element: Josep Maria Subirachs’s sculpture of Saint George. The existing sculpture enters into dialogue with the projected images and becomes part of the composition, bringing together architecture, sculpture, light, image and sound.
Inspired by Urlicht, Gustav Mahler’s lied, Primordial Light is structured as a large audiovisual altarpiece comprising seven scenic tableaux. The tradition of the altarpiece provides the framework for a succession of moving images that reinterpret the legend of Saint George through a contemporary visual language.
Saint George, the maiden and the dragon form the three principal elements of the narrative. Through them, the seven tableaux trace a journey through conflict, desolation, combat, hope and resurrection. Digital imagery is treated as scenic material through layers, transparencies, bodies, objects and light.
This second version further explores the site-specific nature of the work. Primordial Light was conceived to exist within the Sagrada Família and to engage directly with its architecture. During the installation, the projection, Subirachs’s sculpture and the interior of the Basilica form a single composition, temporarily transforming the perception of one of Barcelona’s most distinctive architectural spaces.
Concept and artistic direction: Ignasi Cristià
Promoter: Basilica of the Sagrada Família
Original soundtrack: Carles Mateu-Elejaga and Pito Costa
Audiovisual editing: Pep Carbonell
Photography: Pep Daudé
Audiovisual documentation: Jaume Cusachs
