Congress For Curious People
The III Congress for Curious People Barcelona is a series of cultural events dedicated to the most secret, curious, and unusual side of Barcelona.
From March 1 to March 2, 2025—right in the middle of Carnival—we will offer a splendid program featuring cultural itineraries, guided tours, performances, and exclusive parties.
Coinciding with the centenary of Art Deco (1925), the Year of Barcelona’s patron Isabel Llorach, and the hundredth anniversary of the Barcelona Metro, our III Congress for Curious People invites you to relive those happy, golden, and wild twenties when Barcelona was truly a city of wonders, renowned for its artistic avant-garde and its thrilling nightlife between the Barrio Chino and Avenida del Paralelo.
Take part in all the events and enjoy an extraordinary cultural weekend during Carnival!
Check out our program and get your tickets now!
The first Congress for Curious People took place in Barcelona in February and March 2014. The cultural week was a co-production of the Morbid Anatomy Museum, VIA Barcelona, and Kriminal Kabarett. The Morbid Anatomy Museum is a New York-based society dedicated to the study of medicine, spirituality, and art, and has been producing the Congress for Curious People in Coney Island since 2011. VIA Barcelona has organized special tours and cultural itineraries exploring Barcelona’s most unusual side. Kriminal Kabarett is a collective of artists based in Barcelona that aims to revive iconic episodes in cabaret history with a spirit of transgression, aestheticism, and social critique.
The first Congress for Curious People paid tribute to the history of Carnival and to Barcelona in the Age of Enlightenment. The event was a resounding success, both with the public and critics, receiving numerous reviews in the media and cultural publications. The itineraries focused on the history of science and medicine, including a visit to an anatomical amphitheater, the mansions and bunkers of Avenida Tibidabo, a masquerade at the Atelier de la Muerte in Gràcia, a Freemasonry tour with a visit to the Ateneo Minerva, a surrealist dinner honoring Dalí at the Taxidermista in Plaza Real, and the “Libertine Barcelona” itinerary, a tour following Giacomo Casanova’s adventures in Barcelona, featuring a lecture on erotic art at the Gomis Palace. Additionally, in spring 2014, a baroque dinner was held in tribute to the curiosity cabinet of the Salvador family of botanists at the aDa art gallery.
In March 2016, a special edition of the Congress for Curious People was held in Madrid during Carnival. This cultural week was a co-production of the Morbid Anatomy Museum, Hendrick’s Gin, Atlas Obscura, and Kriminal Kabarett. Throughout this series of events, attendees enjoyed a night tour at the Madrid Museum of Natural Sciences, a private visit to the Javier Puerta Museum of Anatomy, an itinerary through Baroque Madrid under the Habsburgs, the “Madrid Strange Phenomena” Night of Mentalism, a series of lectures at the San José Homeopathic Hospital, a tour of Masonic Madrid, and the Surrealist Ball at the Palacio Duarte.
In October 2016, the second edition of the Congress for Curious People took place in Barcelona as a tribute to Modernist Barcelona and the early 20th century. The central event was a “Modernist Cocktail”, featuring performances of mentalism, opera, and dance at the Estudi Oleguer Junyent. The cultural week continued with a private visit to the Museum of Performing Arts and the Círculo del Liceo, following in the footsteps of dancer Tórtola Valencia and composer Richard Wagner. Attendees also enjoyed exclusive itineraries through the monumental complex of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, the 1929 International Exposition, the secrets of the Palau Nacional in Montjuïc, and a tour exploring Barcelona’s LGBTQ+ history and figures. Finally, in tribute to All Saints’ Day (Diada de Tots Sants), a supernatural Barcelona tour was organized, culminating in an ascent to the bell tower of Santa Maria del Pi.
