'Happy are the children of inconsequential times', by Lluís Vecina

Es Baluard Museum of Contemporary Art in Palma hosts an exhibition that shakes the collective consciousness and explores the always complex relationship between memory, territory and mass tourism. 'Happy children of inconsequential times', by Lluís Vecina Rufiandis, raises a criticism of the transformation of the Mallorcan landscape, eroded by mass tourism. Specifically the beach of Sa Coma, an area that has become a symbol of tourist devastation.

Vecina Rufiandis explores the contrast between two seemingly distant historical moments: the landing of republican troops in Sa Coma in 1936 and the subsequent transformation of the area into a massive tourist center from the 1980s. The project connects two figures: Joan Andreu Puig Farran, a photographer who covered the conflict as a war journalist and later became a producer of tourist postcards, and Jaume Moll, a smuggler turned hotelier who financed the construction of the emblematic Hotel Royal Mediterráneo. Thus, the exhibition highlights how the same geographical space has been the scene of different types of occupations: military and tourist.

Desembarcament republicà, Joan Andreu Puig Farran (1936)

The installation presents a combination of photographs, videos, sculptures and archival documents, which juxtapose these two historical moments. The artist denounces the devastating effects of mass tourism not only on the territory, but also on the collective memory, noting that the hotel is located on the site where the largest mass grave on the island was located. The tour invites you to reflect on the legacy of these events and how the transformations of the space have erased part of history.

One of the key pieces of the exhibition is a striking large mosaic panel that reproduces a postcard of the Hotel Royal Mediterráneo created by Puig Farran's company. You can also see 500 postcards, symbolizing the 500 militiamen who disappeared during the landing.

Curated by Marta Marín-Dòmine, the exhibition will be open to the public in Espai D of Es Baluard Museu until January 19, and offers a critical view of the island's past, while calling to question the present and the collective imaginaries that have been inherited, emphasizing the relationship between politics, landscape and history.

Postal de l'Hotel Royal Mediterráneo.