My name is Carles Gomila. I'm an artist and the director of Quarantine.
For 25 years I painted and organized workshops. I ran an art retreat called Menorca Pulsar for six years. It was successful. I shut it down.
Not because it failed. Because I realized something: getting technically better didn't make me feel like a better artist.
I kept seeing the same pattern in myself and in other artists: we accumulate skill, we refine technique, we get "better"... and we still feel stuck. Repeating ourselves. Playing it safe. Using our competence as armor.
The problem wasn't lack of knowledge. It was the mental structures we'd built -the ones that used to protect us but now limit our range.
So I built Quarantine around a different premise: don't add more technique. Dismantle the structures that make your work predictable.
HOW IT (ACTUALLY) WORKS:
I mix artistic training, strategic psychology, and pressure.
The format forces you to act before you think, to work without instructions, to expose patterns you can't see alone.
Three mentors triangulate on your work -blind spots get harder to hide.
Labs give you challenges with no solution. Seven days on an island with no phones.
I don't fully understand why it works as well as it does. But I know what happens: artists leave with a different operating system. Not more skill. Different decision patterns.
WHY I DO IT:
I built this to solve my own problem. When I help you dismantle your structures, I stay sharp on mine. Sounds like a fair trade to me.
I'm terrible at event logistics. My team handles that. What I'm good at is seeing the patterns people repeat and designing pressure that makes those patterns impossible to ignore.
I still get scared before every program. Fear means I'm doing something that matters.
HERE ARE TWO RABBIT HOLES:
P.S. — This isn't for everyone. If you're here for technique or to watch mentors paint, look elsewhere. If you're stuck in your own competence and ready to work differently, apply.