Carlos Casas’ Krakatoa Sound Installation at àngels barcelona: Feeling a Volcano Through Your Feet

In August 1883, the volcano of Krakatoa, between Java and Sumatra, tore itself apart with a sound reported thousands of kilometres away. Nearly a century and a half later, Barcelona-born artist Carlos Casas invites us not to hear that event so much as to feel it. Carlos Casas’ Krakatoa sound installation “Viaje al centro de la tierra” at àngels barcelona runs from 6 November 2026 to 16 January 2027 in the gallery’s Raval space — and it begins, quite literally, under your feet.

Between documentary and sound art

Born in Barcelona in 1974, Casas studied fine arts, cinema and design, and spent time at Fabrica, the Benetton-backed research centre in Italy, in 1998. Since then he has worked in the space between documentary film and visual and sound art, often in extreme landscapes and at the edges of the inhabited world. His solo projects include End at Pirelli HangarBicocca in Milan (2010), a presentation at the Fondation Cartier in Paris (2016) and Cemetery at Tate Modern (2017); the film version of Cemetery won awards at FID Marseille in 2019. He last showed a solo exhibition at àngels barcelona in 2020.

From a film to a room

The exhibition grows out of Casas’ new feature, Krakatoa (2026), a Spain, UK and France co-production with sound design by Nicolas Becker. The film takes the 1883 eruption as its point of departure — described in the gallery’s text as one of the most extreme geological and acoustic events in history — and the show presents part of the research behind it. Its title nods to Jules Verne’s 1864 novel, which also imagined a descent into the planet through a volcano.

Over several years, Casas studied sound models of volcanic eruptions and recent seismological research. That work led him to low frequencies, infrasound and the vibrations the Earth itself produces — sounds largely below the threshold of hearing. From this research he developed transmission systems that convert seismic signals into physical sensations.

Listening with the body

At the heart of the show are vibrational perception platforms fitted with transducers. Standing on them, visitors receive the vibrations directly through the body; according to the gallery listing, this alters physiological perception and extends listening into touch. Among the works is a vibrational reconstruction of the 1883 eruption and Krakatoa 2066, a speculative composition imagining a future eruption. Around them, sound sculptures, audiovisual installations, drawings, photographs and archival documents trace the research. A further series of audiovisual and light works explores the relationship between vibration, the perception of light and altered states of consciousness.

àngels barcelona and the Raval

àngels barcelona, on Carrer del Pintor Fortuny in the Raval, has long championed artists working with the moving image, sound and research-based practices. It sits a few minutes’ walk from MACBA and the CCCB, making the exhibition an easy addition to a museum day in the neighbourhood. The gallery is a member of Art Barcelona, whose GRAF agenda lists the show.

Why it matters

• For collectors of time-based media: sculptural sound works, drawings and photographs from an artist with Tate, Fondation Cartier and HangarBicocca on his CV.
• For painters and visual artists: a provocative reminder that perception is not only visual — and that an artwork can be received through the skin and bones.
• For anyone in Barcelona this winter: a rare chance to experience geology as sensation, linked to a new feature film.

Visiting information

àngels barcelona, Carrer del Pintor Fortuny 27, 08001 Barcelona. 6 November 2026 – 16 January 2027; the opening is listed for 6 November, 18:00–21:00 (another agenda gives 12 November — please confirm with the gallery). Open Monday to Friday 10:30–19:00 and Saturday 11:30–14:00. Phone +34 934 125 400, email [email protected]. See our Viaje al centro de la tierra listing, the official àngels barcelona exhibition page, and more shows on Upcoming Art Exhibitions in Leading Galleries.