Bilbao is being shaped by art, transforming the city into a prime destination for culture-seekers.
Bilbao has amazing venues for hosting major exhibitions, including the Guggenheim Museum, a world-renowned icon, the stylish Fine Arts Museum or the century-old hub of Bilbao’s cultural scene, the Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao, the Centre for Contemporary Society and Culture of Bilbao.
Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao, Society and Contemporary Culture Centre
If you are passionate about contemporary culture and believe that art’s role is to provoke and trigger transformation at local and social level, to make society more creative, open, and diverse, then you should definitely visit Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao.
The Alhóndiga, known since 2015 as Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao, is Bilbao’s Centre for Society and Contemporary Culture. A living space, where culture is converted into experiences and dialogues among different audiences. A constantly evolving centre, with a rich and varied programme of exhibitions, live art, film and literature, enabling all visitors to experience the power of culture.
Featuring 43 prominent columns designed by French designer Philippe Starck, it has become one of the city’s main attractions, and opens all year round. Countless people stop by every day to take striking snapshots of the colourful gallery, and to enjoy its unmissable exhibitions and cultural proposals.
Cultural activities at Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao
With a range of visual arts, live arts, film and literature, at Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao everyone can discover culture as a practice, a process and a highly enriching experience.
The spaces in which to enjoy the centre’s cultural programme include: the Auditorium, the cinema screens, the Exhibition Hall, the Mediateka (a 21st century multimedia library for artistic creation, learning and experimentation), “dendAZ. This is Basque Design” (the Azkuna Zentroa showroom, open to the experience of design and creative and artisan work) and the Physical Activity Centre (an open space connected to the programme, relating to the body and wellbeing).
MY HOuse IS YOUR HOUSE, the exhibition by Chiharu Shiota
From 27 May until 28 September 2025, Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao is hosting the exhibition by the Japanese artist Chiharu Shiota, My house is your house, which reflects her career from her first projects, in 1994, and includes new installations, inspired by Bilbao and the architecture of the Alhóndiga. The show invites you to explore the narrative potential of a work consisting of an open and seductive network, stimulating the creation of new connections.
How would you describe your home? Take part in the Chiharu Shiota exhibition
The artist Chiharu Shiota invites you to take part in this exhibition, sharing the essence of your home with her. Tell her what it’s made of; not just the materials, but the feelings, connections and invisible threads that link you to it.
As Chiharu explains:
How would you describe your home? Is it a place of warmth or emptiness? Does it hold echoes of laughter and the heaviness of silence? What objects within it have the most meaning? And what do you value that others may not be able to see? I believe that the history of every home forms part of a greater, more collective history, a history of belonging and change. As I interweave these personal histories in my installation, I hope to create a space that reflects the different ways in which we experience “home” in the world.
How to take part:
- Write a letter or make a drawing, sharing your thoughts about your home: what it’s made of, what it means to you and how you would describe it.
- Please write or draw by hand, on white paper.
- Take a photo of your letter/drawing or scan it, then email it to info@azkunazentroa.eus before 1 May 2025, entering “CHIHARU SHIOTA LETTER” in the subject line.
Your letters will form part of a group installation; share your thoughts and let the presence of your homes be felt!
The Artwork as a Living System is accompanied by a programme of activities, including guided tours that offer various perspectives on the exhibition and an audio guide workshop for pupils at different school grades.
About Chiharu Shiota
Chiharu Shiota (born in Osaka, 1972) is one of the world’s most renowned figures in contemporary art. Inspired by Ana Mendieta and a whole generation of feminist artists of the early 70s, Chiharu Shiota works with her body as a space of intervention, creating performances that deal with our connection to the earth, the past and memory. Known for her installations using wool as the main material, her interwoven threads form an amazing dreamscape, whilst rekindling memory and posing philosophical questions about existence and its absence.
Art is shaping the city of Bilbao
Apart from formerly being one of the main centres of the iron and steel industry in Spain and the Basque Country, Bilbao is a must for anyone wanting to follow in the footsteps of the boldest architects, the most famous designers and the most renowned artists, both male and female.
So now you know: as well as the unmissable exhibition My house is your house, all year round at Azkuna Zentroa – Alhóndiga Bilbao you can enjoy films, a library, restaurants, a gym, swimming pool and one of the most stunning terraces in the whole of Bilbao. Are you ready for a visit?!
