DATES: 5–10 October 2026
VENUE: Cascadas Art Space / carrer Bisbe Laguarda 16, Barcelona
A defining feature of our time is an obsessive focus on productivity: almost every activity is now evaluated in terms of its measurable outcome. This applies not only to the sphere of work, but also to seemingly insignificant activities of everyday life. Chance encounters and seemingly disinterested conversations quickly turn into networking, while free time and hobbies – whenever the opportunity arises – are subjected to monetisation.
Magda Franczak examines that which is intangible yet brings with it immeasurable benefits. For years, her artistic practice has engaged with spaces whose histories are connected to trade and exchange, while focusing her attention on the “by-products” of the flow of goods and services: conversation, relationships and human connections. “Conversation is an uncountable commodity; it melts like snow under the rays of the sun at the moment a transaction is made. It is fleeting and momentary, evoking a longing for contact with another human being, for the extraordinary transformation of a commodity into a story, advice or even palm reading.” (Sellers of Snow, 2021–2022).
Continuing her exploration of the immaterial and elusive value of what remains after an economic transaction, the artist is undertaking an artistic residency and project entitled The Economy of Uselessness at Cascadas Art Space in Barcelona.
The Cascadas gallery space was formerly used for commercial purposes, but it was also a place where the local community gathered. It housed a fabric shop where women from the neighbourhood would meet to engage in handicrafts and textile work – sewing, knitting and embroidering, but above all talking and building neighbourhood connections.
The gallery is located in Raval district, which, with the advent of the industrial era, became one of the first areas of the city where textile manufactories and factories were established, while also becoming a residential area for the working class. The textile industry that developed here played a key role in Barcelona’s industrialisation and economic development, contributing to its transformation into one of the most important industrial centres of 19th-century Catalonia. In the 20th century, as factories moved beyond the city limits, the district became a centre of artistic bohemia and local commerce. To this day, its urban fabric is shaped by numerous small shops, family-run craft businesses and small enterprises.
Drawing on the history of the site and the important context of Barcelona’s textile industry, The Economy of Uselessness focuses on what was and remains a by-product of economic growth. The artist looks closely at the Cascadas space and its former function: archival photographs, remnants of the fabric shop and stories from the neighbourhood. All of these serve as inspiration for new works and a site-specific installation incorporating photography, textiles, ceramic objects and sound.
The project was realised as part of the ReSide artistic residency programme organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Funded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
PROGRAMME
5 OCTOBER / 6-8 PM – open studio day
9 OCTOBER / 7 PM – exhibition opening
10 OCTOBER / 12 AM – curatorial tour & artist talk
Magdalena Franczak, PhD, a visual artist and researcher working at the crossroads of sculpture, photography, and storytelling. Her artistic practice investigates the relationship between community, space, and narrative through site-specific installations and sculptural forms. By reconfiguring fragments of the everyday into utopian compositions, she explores materiality and spatiotemporality as vessels for social resonance – crafting environments where every voice is empowered to speak.
https:// secondaryarchive.org/artists/magdalena-franczak
