Our history
Diógenes was born in 2010 in the neighborhood of Gràcia in Barcelona. For five years we had our doors open to the public with cultural activities such as exhibitions, concerts, workshops, gastro-cultural events, screenings, book presentations, etc.
Working in a communitarian way, we have had the collaboration of more than 200 people of diverse origins, ages and professions, being a space of encounter and exchange between the different cultures that coexist in Barcelona.
We embrace projects
Since our first opening in 2010 and up to date in this 2025, we offer creative residencies in Diogenes, hosting artists, writers, journalists, cooks, architects, filmmakers, thinkers and their families. Also, we are the shared home of several independent projects, such as The Giraffe's Playspace which from now on opens its doors to the public. Other projects that we currently host are:
Ave Luz: feminist project that weaves a network and accompanies people who have lived or are living situations of gender-based violence.
La Casa de Raíz Puntita: from an ecosystemic perspective, Raíz Puntita -Little Root- invites us to think about, write and draw in dialogue with plants.
Deuvedés: we inherited the 10,000 films of the mythical videoclub that lived on our same street from 2003 to 2020. Do you fancy a movie? You can find it here... we are like "The Matrix" of "Netflix".
El Patio de la Calle de la Estrella: a project that is just being born; its intention is to generate links and meeting places among people from the neighborhood, starting by listening to the elderly.
Our walls also host artworks that accompany us every day: La Moreneta's mosaic was already in this house when we arrived; murals by LaPiztola, Rilke Roca, Gris García and Milo; as well as artworks always exhibited by Paula Laverde, Pedro Strukelj, Bwooka, Miralda, Sandra March, Alba and Nevenka Pavic, among others.
Why Diogenes?
What we like most about our name is the wordplay, the thinkplay -and contradictions play- that it allows us.
There was a first philosopher Diogenes who is known thanks to another philosopher Diogenes, who was also a historian. And from the philosophy of the first - rather from a contradiction - the name of Diogenes Syndrome was given to a mental health disorder.
Diogenes, the first philosopher, decided to get rid of everything, so he ended up living in the street -along with other philosophers of the Cynic school- and it is presumed that he lived surrounded by garbage, which is why his name was given to the syndrome.
Isn't it a contradiction that one gets rid of everything and because of that is named another one who accumulates everything?... Isn't it arbitrary that one consideres garbage what another one accumulates?
Here we call ourselves Diogenes by collective suggestion, because although we do not suffer from the syndrome, this space has been a refuge, a shelter to improve our mental health; and, above all, because the days of "old junk" -considered garbage-, is when we go out "shopping" to furnish this place.
Also because we like that Diogenes, the philosopher, is considered the first "citizen of the world" by advocating the disappearance of borders ... and because he defied authority by asking not to be in his way to sunbathe ... but, above all, because he sought the honesty of people in their inner light.
We want to hear from you
Diogenes is nourished by the proposals we receive, so we invite you to send us your ideas, your projects, your desire to create and work collectively.
Direction
Rosi Morales
She is the "mother of Diogenes".
Originally from Mexico City, she has been living in Barcelona for more than 20 years. She works in the gestation of cultural projects, especially those that have to do with food culture or what is known as "foodcultura".
She has collaborated with the FoodCultura Foundation since 2005, coordinating projects such as: Sabores y Lenguas, in 7 Latin American cities, including venues such as the Havana Biennial and the Sao Paulo Biennial; Power Food and La Formigonera del PobleNew.
She was responsible for the Day of the Dead Route in Barcelona for more than a decade and is a regular collaborator of Casa Amèrica Catalunya.
She has university studies in Art History, Gastronomy and Social and Solidarity Economy.
She loves to smile while working.
Team
So many people have been involved in Diogenes since its opening in 2010 that it would be an unmanageable task to mention all the people who have joined this initiative. Thank you!
And, once again, we invite you to feel at home in Diógenes, just as Milo, Kivu and Rosi already do. The three of them are, at present, the heart-team of this project.
