The Barcelona Sound Culture Map was designed by XAV for Underground Frequencies, an Artist Ally conversation exploring how DJs and cultural practitioners navigate Barcelona’s music and nightlife ecosystem.
Following a conversation with DJ SP.ICE about migration, belonging, radio culture, opportunities, sustainability, and entering the local scene, participants were invited to contribute their own knowledge to a physical map.
Rather than positioning one speaker as the authority on Barcelona’s sound culture, the interface began from a different premise: no single person fully understands an ecosystem. Knowledge is distributed.
Participants added spaces, communities, opportunities, and experiences they had encountered, gradually turning individual knowledge into a shared resource.
The resulting map made some of the city’s invisible cultural infrastructure visible—showing how valuable ecosystem knowledge often lives not online, but in people.
