Lluís Vecina Rufiandis. Happy the Children of Intranscendent Times

The Es Baluard Museum (Palma de Mallorca) and EUROM present the installation “Happy the Children of Intranscendent Times” by Lluís Vecina Rufiandis, curated by Marta Marín-Domine. The artwork explores the intertwined lives of photographer Joan Andreu Puig Farran and hotelier Jaume Moll, both connected to Sa Coma beach, the site of the 1936 Spanish Republican disembarkation during the Civil War, later transformed into a hub of mass tourism in the 1980s.

The installation opens on October 17, 2024, at 7 pm, and will be on display until January 19, 2025, before becoming available for itinerancy.

The centerpiece of the installation is a large mosaic featuring an enlarged postcard of the Hotel Royal Mediterráneo, produced by Joan Andreu Puig Farran’s company. Surrounding this are 500 postcards representing the militiamen who perished during the 1936 disembarkation, alongside audiovisual archival footage and a soundscape by Toni Llull. These elements juxtapose different historical periods, revealing the complex layers of Mallorca’s landscape.

Puig Farran, who covered the 1936 Landing as a war correspondent, later transitioned to commercial photography in the 1950s, documenting the same sites after they were transformed into tourist destinations. One such site, the imposing Hotel Royal Mediterráneo, was built by Jaume Moll, who thrived during Franco’s regime. The installation highlights how mass tourism obscured much of the island’s historical memory, masking a Francoist modernization effort that eroded both the physical landscape and its historical significance—including a mass grave from the war beneath the hotel.

Lluís Vecina Rufiandis (Porto Cristo, 1995), a Fine Arts graduate from the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, has worked with MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona. He is also a member of Col·lectiu Recerca, a group dedicated to research and raising awareness about the Second Republic, the Spanish Civil War, and Francoist repression.

When

October 18, 2024 → January 19, 2025

Where

Es Baluard Museu
Plaza Porta de Santa Catalina 10
Palma de Mallorca (Spain)

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