As an art historian, Sònia López (Barcelona, 1972) spent nearly 20 years leading the digital media department at MACBA before launching Deckard Cultura Digital, a consultancy that supports museums and cultural institutions in the conceptualization of digital projects and the curation of content.

For the past few months, she has also been working from the BSC AI Factory, the European artificial intelligence hub located at Pier07 of Tech Barcelona. “We believe innovation happens at the margins: when different disciplines meet, when an unexpected conversation opens a new thread. That’s why we especially value being in an environment where artificial intelligence, creativity, engineering, and strategy intertwine and engage in dialogue,” she wrote on LinkedIn when announcing her office move.

Listening, flexibility, and presence: values that shape her way of leading creative and complex projects. They also define her vision of the future—one in which innovation makes it possible to connect culture with everyone.

TB: What is the purpose of your project?

SL: Deckard’s purpose is to help museums remain relevant in society’s everyday life.

TB: At what stage is your project now, and where do you see it in two years?

SL: Increasingly, we work on complex projects where coordination, translation between teams, and clear decision-making are essential. In two years, I’d like Deckard to be even more established as a boutique partner in digital curatorship and strategic support, with more scalable processes without losing craftsmanship.

TB: A key decision that has shaped your project.

SL: Naming and defending our work as digital curatorship—a transversal task that mediates between academia and technology—and building the studio around that role of conceptual design and technological mediation.

TB: What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced, and what has it taught you?

SL: It may sound cliché, but the biggest challenge I’ve experienced is personal, and I mention it because it has impacted everything I do. Becoming a mother taught me to listen, to be firm, and to be present—that shapes everything I do. Motherhood affects the kind of professional you become.

TB: The best advice you’ve been given.

SL: Setting boundaries is offering a space of safety.

TB: We all change over time. Have you changed your mind about anything?

SL: Yes, of course—about many things. I don’t trust people who never change their minds. Nor those who don’t understand that changing your mind is possible.

TB: A professional role model who inspires you.

SL: I have to make an effort because there are many people I look up to, each for different reasons. For this interview, I’ll choose Genís Roca, for his analytical and communication skills when it comes to technology.

TB: What do you value most in the people you work with?

SL: Their creativity—being surprised by them and pushed to say, “Wow, I hadn’t thought about this from that angle.”

TB: A technology that will shape the future.

SL: That’s a hard one! AI is already permeating our daily lives. I read in The New York Times about a journalist who tried to avoid it and found it impossible—even his home faucet depended on AI. In my sector, conversational interfaces built on knowledge graphs don’t just “generate”; they connect, contextualize, and provide intelligent access to archives. Personally, the technology I’d like to shape the future would be matter teleportation with zero carbon footprint.

TB: A startup or company you admire and why.

SL: Musa.Guide. They’re a small startup that has developed a simple, beautiful solution for audio guides in museum environments. They use AI to adapt content to users. It’s much better than I’m able to explain.

TB: What do you do to disconnect?

SL: Watch two or three films in a row—ones that have always been on my watchlist and that no one else at home wants to see.

TB: A book to recommend.

SL: The Volume of Time by Danish author Solvej Valle. It’s published in Catalan and Spanish by Anagrama. If they don’t release the third volume (and the following ones) soon, I’ll be forced to learn Danish.

TB: A song that defines your current moment in life.

SL: There are so many to choose from that I always go back to the foundations: I’ll say any piece played by John Coltrane.

TB: A recipe, a dish, a restaurant.

SL: Any Italian pasta made with wisdom—like the kind they prepare for you at Raffaelli Ristorante on Lluís Antúnez Street in Barcelona.

TB: A place in the world.

SL: Venice.

TB: Where would you invest 100k?

SL: In the development of teleportation, of course.

TB: If you weren’t an entrepreneur…

SL: I’d devote myself to a profession where I could use my hands to make or repair things.

TB: What is Tech Barcelona to you?

SL: It’s an opportunity to hybridize my practice with other innovation processes, to share experiences, and above all to connect my world—anchored in the slow, repetitive processes of museums—with innovation and more disruptive opportunities.