The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) presented today at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) the BSC Creative Intelligence Lab , the first art and science laboratory integrated into a supercomputing center in Europe. This new institutional structure places creative practice at the core of research within the context of high-performance computing (HPC), artificial intelligence (AI), and emerging technologies.
The laboratory formalizes and scales more than thirteen years of interdisciplinary work by the BSC Data Analytics and Visualization group, which has demonstrated that collaboration between creatives and researchers is scientifically productive, economically sustainable, and culturally relevant.
Unlike traditional artist-in-residence programs, BSC proposes a distinctive methodology through the laboratory that has proven to simultaneously generate scientific breakthroughs, patentable technologies, and cultural work with international impact.
The Creative Intelligence Lab will develop residencies, public experiments, training programs, and collaborative projects, with the fundamental objective of translating research into tangible tools, products, and services for industry and society.
The project, which has an international scope, is part of the European commitment to AI Factories. Climate change, personalized medicine, renewable energies, and digital sovereignty are some of the core pillars under which it will operate, alongside driving the creative industries themselves.
The laboratory operates as a continuous cycle in which creative exploration generates new capabilities, these enable real-world applications, and the applications return questions and investment to research. This dynamic is structured across three interconnected areas:
BSC is a public center whose purpose is to have societal impact. Within this framework, the Creative Intelligence Lab operates under the premise that society and industry demand new capabilities, and those demands inspire or require the development of new knowledge. The Lab's methodology stems precisely from this productive tension between what is needed and what is yet to be discovered.
The collaboration model between researchers and creatives developed by the BSC over the years forms the foundation of the new laboratory's activity. The underlying values —curiosity, flexibility, and respect— define the way artists and researchers work together as full members of the same team, rather than in separate silos.
The methodology operates as a continuous three-phase cycle: knowledge creation , where artists and researchers explore questions together and develop new capabilities; knowledge application , where these capabilities are translated into projects, technologies, and services with measurable results; and knowledge advancement , in which these results generate new funding, new partnerships, and new questions that restart the cycle.
EXASCALE Program for HPC and the Arts . The Lab is launching a structured framework for residencies and interdisciplinary research that will connect creatives with HPC researchers to explore the artistic and scientific potential of large-scale computing, AI, and emerging technologies. The first residency is scheduled for the second half of 2026.
Network of Institutional Alliances . Alongside historical collaborators such as Sónar+D , HacTe , and CCCB , the Lab incorporates Ars Electronica —the world's most prominent art and technology festival— and TBA21 Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary as future strategic partners.
International Advisory Board . Composed of Andrea Faroppa (Sónar+D), Francesca Bria (European digital policy expert), Mónica Bello (Platform Dalí), Nils Gilman (Berggruen Institute), and transdisciplinary artist Enrique Rosas , among others.
Three years of joint work between the BSC and singer-songwriter Maria Arnal demonstrate how the methodology operates. The collaboration started in 2023 with the commission of Maria Choir for the CCCB’s exhibition “AI: Artificial Intelligence”, a work that received an honorary mention at the S+T+ARTS awards; it continued with the Impossible Larynx residency under the European S+T+ARTS AIR program; and evolved into the interactive installation Expanded Voices (2025) and the audiovisual material for her album and show AMA (2026).
The process has also produced a scientific publication to be presented this summer at the SIGGRAPH conference (Los Angeles), with potential applications in the musical, performing arts, and audiovisual industries, as well as in vocal health and education.
The presentation, held in the Theatre Hall of the CCCB, brought together institutional representatives, artistic communities, international partners, and public administrations. Speakers included Cristian Canton (Associate Director of BSC), Fernando Cucchietti (Director of the Lab), José María Cela (Director of the BSC CASE Department), Ricard Robles (founder of Sónar and Advisory Board member), and José Luis de Vicente (founder of FAST and the Lab's first Associate Curator).
Mónica Bello (Platform Dalí and member of the Advisory Board), Veronika Liebl (Ars Electronica) via video, and Markus Reymann (TBA21) presented the strategic alliances; and Maria Arnal (singer and experimental artist) shared her experience of collaboration.
More information about the BSC Creative Intelligence Lab: https://bsc.es/viz/cilab.pdf