What to visit / Barcelona, district by district / Sants-Montjuïc / Parc de Montjuïc / Mural de les Olles (Pot Mural), Frederic Amat

Mural de les Olles (Pot Mural), Frederic Amat

The 1,500 glazed ceramics pots cascading down the wall behind the contemporary dance venue, the Mercat de les Flors, are one of the most surprising finds at the foot of Montjuïc.

The artist Frederic Amat makes these misshapen pots dance in a setting that is steeped in theatre. The Barcelona-born artist created this 30-metre-long, 17-metre-high installation with painstaking attention to detail. Each pot was hand-thrown and distorted out of shape by the artist when still malleable, before being fired at a high temperature in the kiln.

A chaotic, aesthetically troubling staging created by an artist who often works on theatre productions. The mural was unveiled in 2001 to mark the opening of the new premises of the Institut del Teatre, which stands opposite. A dialogue between an array of dented, battered pieces and the rationality of an impassable glass wall.

Amat created the work in collaboration with the ceramicist Joan Artigas and the sculptor Pere Casanovas.

You may be also interested