The ADN Galeria program explores political memory, power, and representation through contemporary art. Founded in Barcelona in 2003 by Miguel Ángel Sánchez, the gallery showcases artists such as Eugenio Merino, Núria Güell, and Democracia at its Eixample location.
Gallery Profile
ADN Galeria opened on May 13, 2003, at 49 Enric Granados. The project was founded by Miguel Ángel Sánchez, Toni Pont, and Juanjo Rey. Two years later, Sánchez took over as director of the gallery. He had studied art history in New York, worked at MoMA PS1, and, upon returning to Barcelona, spent time at the Piramidón art center. In 2019, ADN left Enric Granados and moved to Mallorca 205, where it occupies more than 500 square meters.
A significant part of its history has revolved around artists who engage with specific political situations. Regina José Galindo has used her body in performances related to violence and Guatemala’s recent history. Núria Güell has made laws and administrative procedures the starting point for some of her projects. Eugenio Merino has drawn on objects and symbols associated with Spanish politics and the memory of the dictatorship.
Merino is now celebrating twenty years of collaboration with the gallery. Joan Pallé exhibited there L’amor altre in 2021, based on cinematic depictions of non-monogamous relationships, and returned in 2023 with Exploded Views, a project inspired by the European Eurodrone. This year, he has also presented Els joves infeliços at the Centre d’Art La Panera in Lleida.
In 2013, ADN expanded its activities with ADN Platform, housed in a former factory in Sant Cugat del Vallès. The space was created to develop projects that required different production conditions or a duration different from what is typical in a commercial gallery. The Mallorca 205 location continues to serve as the hub for regular programming in Barcelona.
Program
Why Go
During Barcelona Gallery Weekend, new exhibitions by Joan Pallé and Gema Polanco will be on view there alongside MANIFESTO: 20 Years with ADN Galeria, which brings together two decades of Eugenio Merino’s work with the gallery and closes on Sunday, September 20. The exhibitions by Pallé and Polanco will remain open until November 7.
Pallé, born in Lleida in 1989, returns to ADN following his exhibition this year at La Panera. FANTASTIC PLANET. The Wild Planet continues a process seen in previous works: collecting found images and returning to them later to create new associations.
Women Carrying Animals is Gema Polanco’s first solo exhibition at ADN. Born in Valencia in 1992, Polanco has exhibited at the CA2M and the IVAM, institutions that hold works by her in their collections. This year, PHotoESPAÑA presented *My Whole House Is an Altar* at the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid. Her arrival at ADN thus coincides with a period of increased institutional recognition of her work.
Merino takes a different approach. It is not presenting an exhibition designed solely for this season. MANIFESTO brings together works from various periods to mark the twenty years that have passed since his collaboration with ADN began.
What to Expect
During Barcelona Gallery Weekend, new exhibitions by Joan Pallé and Gema Polanco will be on view there alongside MANIFESTO. 20 Years with ADN Galeria, which brings together two decades of Eugenio Merino’s work with the gallery and closes on Sunday, September 20. The exhibitions by Pallé and Polanco will remain open through November 7.
In Gema Polanco’s exhibition, the watercolors are not isolated on white walls. Some painted elements extend beyond the paper and occupy the wall. Nearby are works from previous years and a flag bearing the inscription “Feel nothing / And feel everything.” The dates—ranging from 2024 to 2026—indicate that some of the images in the exhibition predate the event that inspired the series featuring women carrying animals.
David Morán Álvarez, author of the text accompanying the exhibition, links these scenes to care and responsibility in the face of a catastrophe. That interpretation falls within the curatorial framework. Polanco draws on something more easily identifiable in the gallery: images seen in the media that he later translates into drawings and paintings.
In MANIFESTO, the time frame is expanded to span twenty years. There is no comprehensive chronological overview of Eugenio Merino’s career. ADN has gathered works from different periods of its collaboration with the artist and has placed them alongside pieces created in 2026. Among the latter is *Petróleo*. A black industrial barrel, placed on a pedestal, has the Universal Declaration of Human Rights printed on its surface. Merino preserves the object’s form and superimposes the text without transforming it into a pictorial representation. The work literally brings together these two elements: an oil barrel and a declaration adopted by the United Nations in 1948.
Merino's exhibition is only open during Barcelona Gallery Weekend. On Monday, ADN will once again feature solo exhibitions by Pallé and Polanco, which run through November.
Represented Artists
What to Do Nearby
Less than 200 meters from ADN is Llibreria Finestres, located at Diputació 249. It opened in 2021 and occupies two adjacent spaces: one dedicated primarily to literature and essays, and the other focusing on comics, illustrated books, and the arts. In addition to its book selection, it organizes presentations, book clubs, and the Finestres Awards. For a gallery tour, it makes more sense to include a bookstore like this than a general-interest one, precisely because of the emphasis it places on art, imagery, and publishing.
Located at Mallorca 237 is La Central, one of Barcelona’s leading bookstores since the 1990s. Its collection originally specialized in the humanities and continues to feature extensive sections on art, architecture, design, photography, film, and philosophy. The Eixample location is housed in a historic building with an interior garden and a small café on the top floor.
For dining, one of the top spots in this part of the Eixample is even closer to ADN. Mont Bar, at Diputació 220, operates as a gourmet bar serving small, seasonal dishes. It’s recognized by the Michelin Guide and boasts an extensive wine cellar; it’s just over 300 meters from Mallorca 205.
A little further up, at Provença 230, Gresca is one of the established names in Barcelona’s contemporary culinary scene. Rafa Peña opened the restaurant in 2006, and it features an open kitchen facing the dining room, with a menu of small plates and half portions. The Michelin Guide currently includes it in its selection for Barcelona.
Almost directly across the street is a very different kind of store, yet one that’s quintessentially Barcelona: Servei Estació, at Aragó 270–272. More than just a conventional hardware store, the shop specializes in building materials: wood, plastics, metals, fabrics, paints, and tools are all available across several floors. For anyone interested in design, architecture, or how things are made, it retains the charm of those kinds of stores that are hard to find these days in the center of a big city.
