Moving and migrating are some of the most intrinsic acts that define us as living beings, a kind of telluric confrontation with the most elemental. However, with the emergence of the first civilizations came the notion of territorial boundaries, conceived as a means to protect territory, resources, and identity.

If in ancient times borders became real through walls and fortifications, the construction of the modern world has gradually dematerialized these physical barriers. Today, however, we watch in disbelief as thousands of kilometers of walls and fences proliferate across Europe. At the same time, migration policies focus on militarization, externalization, and the criminalization of migrants and refugees. Wealth flows from every corner of the Global South toward financial centers, but never the other way around. While goods and capital from the North circulate globally without restrictions, millions of refugees risk their lives fleeing armed conflicts, structural poverty, political persecution, or environmental disasters. The ancient Mare Nostrum, cradle of the West and bridge of civilizations, has become the largest mass grave in the world. And as it becomes evident that dominant neoliberalism increases social and economic inequalities, a political vacuum opens that favors the rise of far‑right populism.

Centered on the geopolitical framework of a “fortress Europe,” the MURS project analyzes the concept of the border in its full semantic dimension. These barriers—whether natural (oceans, deserts, mountains, etc.), artificial (walls and fences built by humans), related to transit (the externalization of border management), legal (immigration laws), biopolitical (control, detention centers, Frontex deportations, etc.), social (racism, labor exploitation, lack of rights…), or even virtual (bureaucratic control, monitoring, etc.)—are explored through a wide range of realities and case studies.

The MURS exhibition has been produced by the Institut de les Desigualtats (Institute of Inequalities) with the support of the Catalan Agency for Development Cooperation and the Barcelona City Council.

It is an exhibition that has travelled through different cities across Catalonia (Valls, Reus, Lleida, El Vendrell, Igualada, Alcarràs, etc.) and was most recently presented in the sadly famous fourth gallery of Barcelona’s former Model prison.

Badalona Pompeu Fabra metro station (L2) . Concourse, Av. Martí i Pujol exit

There are currently 50 spots across the metro network where musicians perform live at different times and on different days of the week. These stages now feature a new graphic identity, with larger and more visible signage in various tones and artist profiles. Rethinking the initiative has made it possible to review the designated points and adjust their locations based on planned works and changes in passenger flows.

A new name is also being introduced: Música al metro (music in the metro). The name change reflects the aim of making it more inclusive from a gender perspective.

With this new identity in communications and signage, the goal is to give further momentum to an initiative that is already well established as a European benchmark.

Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona (TMB) and the Association of Street and Metro Musicians of Barcelona (AMUC), with the mediation of the Ciutat Vella district and the Institute of Culture, launched in 2001 a pioneering project to establish the foundations for the presence of musicians in specific, designated spots within the metro network. Inspired by the New York subway, the initiative has, over these 25 years, become a true benchmark in Europe. The project will celebrate its 25th anniversary in January 2026.

The aim of regulating music in the metro has always been to create welcoming spaces within the network, ensure the quality of the music offered to users, facilitate preventive control functions for the proper operation of the system, and regulate musicians’ performances so they remain compatible with the normal running of metro services. At the same time, it offers performers a space to promote and showcase their music, turning public space into a platform for emerging creators.

Over these 25 years, the suitability tests held periodically have also been consolidated, ensuring high musical quality and responding to the growing number of applications to perform in the metro.

The metro musicians project is part of TMB Cultura, the cultural programme of the TMB Foundation, which builds connections between citizens and cultural associations in Barcelona and the metropolitan area, with the aim of bringing culture closer to the public through its facilities and enriching the experience of travelling on public transport.

Do you know when the first Barcelona metro line was opened? And how many stations there were?

Did you know that during the Republican Government of Catalonia the metro reached as far as Hospitalet de Llobregat?

Or that during the Spanish Civil War, people often used it as a shelter to protect themselves from bombs?

Did you know that it was not until the early sixties that the metro service was municipalized, becoming the public service that guarantees the universal right to mobility that it is today?

Did you know that in 1992, with the Barcelona Olympic Games, the metro was expanded further, opening the way to Santa Coloma de Gramenet and Badalona?

Did you know that today it has 125 kilometres of track and up to 165 stations, facilitating nearly 280 million trips a year? Or that Line 9, which ends at El Prat airport, is automatic and is one of the most modern in Europe?

The Barcelona metro brings together a thousand and one stories from the past, present and future.

Taking advantage of both celebrations, the two organizations started the experience of leaving a piano permanently in the lobby of the L5 at Diagonal station.

The piano invites passengers to accept the challenge of stopping, sitting down, and playing its keys.