Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona

The Centre de Cultura Contemporania de Barcelona, widely known by its acronym CCCB, is a public arts and cultural center located in the El Raval district of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Inaugurated in 1994, the institution operates as a multidisciplinary space dedicated to contemporary culture, with its core thematic focus on the city and urban culture. The center organizes a wide array of activities, including exhibitions, debates, festivals, concerts, film cycles, courses, and lectures. It serves as a hub to generate debate and reflection on urban spaces and current affairs, bridging the academic world, creative processes, and the general public.

The CCCB was established by a public consortium formed by the Diputacio de Barcelona and the Barcelona City Council, which approved its creation in 1989. Josep Ramoneda directed the center from its inception until 2011, establishing an artistic program centered on the relationship between art and the real world, and the interaction between local and global urban dynamics. Construction of the facility began in 1991, and the center was officially inaugurated on February 25, 1994. In 2008, the CCCB co-founded the Institute for Research and Innovation alongside the Centre Pompidou and Microsoft France. Following Ramoneda's departure in November 2011, Marcal Sintes served as director until November 2014, when Vicenc Villatoro took over. After an international competition in February 2018, Judit Carrera won the position, replacing Villatoro on October 1, 2018.

Rather than a traditional museum collection, the CCCB maintains a dynamic multimedia archive comprising materials generated by the center throughout its history. This archive is constantly updated and includes documents, publications, digital files, and audiovisual materials related to key themes of contemporary culture and society. A notable component is the Xcentric Archive, a digital repository of experimental and documentary film containing over 700 titles associated with the center's film program. Additionally, the CCCB Lab, established in 2010, functions as a research and innovation space focusing on cultural innovation, the intersection of science and culture, education, digital media, data journalism, and big data, sharing its findings through articles, video conferences, and specialist reports.

The CCCB does not hold a permanent art collection in the traditional sense, but instead hosts a rotating program of temporary exhibitions. Since 1994, it has presented over one hundred such exhibitions, covering subjects ranging from literature to urbanism. These exhibitions are sometimes organized internally and sometimes by external curators. The center also hosts recurring external events and festivals, such as the World Press Photo exhibition, the Loop Festival, and Primavera Pro, as well as courses organized by the Institute of Human Sciences of Barcelona.

The CCCB occupies part of the former Casa de Caritat, an almshouse originally built in 1802 that served the disadvantaged until 1957. The center has a total floor area of 15,000 square meters, of which 4,000 square meters are dedicated exhibition halls, alongside an auditorium, a bookstore, and various multiuse seminar and lecture rooms. The renovation of the historic premises was carried out by architects Helio Pinon and Albert Viaplana, in collaboration with Ricard Mercade. Their design replaced the north wing of the original structure, completing a U-shaped layout with a 30-meter-high prismatic volume featuring a striking glazed facade that projects into the courtyard. This reflective facade acts as a mirror of the surrounding rooftops and a lookout point over the city. The project was awarded the FAD and Ciutat de Barcelona Architecture Prizes in 1993. In spring 2011, the CCCB expanded by 3,000 square meters to incorporate the former Casa de Caritat theater, originally built in 1912 by architect Josep Goday i Casals. This renovation, designed by Martinez Lapena-Torres Arquitectos, established a basement-level connection through the Pati de les Dones courtyard and integrated part of a 19th-century cloister from the former Hospital de la Caritat. The theater space includes the Sala Teatre and Sala Raval.

The CCCB is situated in the El Raval district of Barcelona's old city, adjacent to the Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona (MACBA). It is operated as a public consortium managed by a General Council, where the President of the Diputacio de Barcelona serves as president and the Mayor of Barcelona serves as vice-president. The center functions as an open space for creators, associations, and freelance programmers, and it actively takes in-house productions to other national and international arts centers, museums, and institutions.