Welcome to the Festival of the Sea!
The Festival of the Sea is an homage to Federico Fellini with music by Nino Rota, created by the students and friends of the EINA Temporary Montage Workshop, taught by Xavier Olivé, to mark the 1978-1979 end of year party.
The event was open and participative. The invitation asked guests to come in fancy dress with maritime costumes. However, there was also the opportunity to be made up at EINA and use the costumes made in the school workshop.
The Mermaid’s Song..
Welcome on board.
The façade of the Casa Dolcet was transformed into a transatlantic liner, acting as the entrance for the guests at the event.
At the bottom of the sea.
A ceiling made from nets, from which hung seaweed and seahorses, covered the whole of the garden esplanade.
The waves of the sea.
On a sea of plastic, inspired by the sea in Federico Fellini’s film Casanova, were different sea creatures and phenomena.
Flying fish. The sea is so calm it resembles décor.
The sea décor was made from paper painted by hand by the Salvador Brothers. The décor could be rented by professional or amateur theatre companies.
Prawn and crab. Let’s go looking for crabs on the breakwater.
Stick the parasol in the sand.
The fake sand was thermite, a construction material.
Sand castles, childhood memories.
The pearls were the Núñez sisters: Cris, Pati, Isabel and Alicia.
Au revoir!
The interior room was turned into a live sound stage. The montage was documented thanks to the photographs by Colita (models photos) and Manel Esclusa (black and white photos).
Following the educational tradition of Bauhaus and other modern schools, in this Temporary Montage Workshop, different disciplines from the world of design, manual work and the theatre were combined.
The enrolled students chose the subject matter, did the graphic design for the invitation, the stage design, the manual construction of the different elements of the décor and the design of the figurines and the creation of the costumes. Finally, they also took charge of the general montage, including the sound and lighting. All of this was with a tight budget that they had to manage.
Once the event started, the students were responsible for meeting and greeting the guests, interacting with the public and for the complete success of the action.
Enthusiastic participants included: Midu, Lis Bertran, Luís Alba, Albert Buendía, Victoria García, Antxón Gómez, José Mª Milà and Ramón Olives. And we raised a toast with a blue cocktail like marine plankton.
Mermaid Paella.
In 1987, the EINA, 20 Years at the Forefront exhibition was held at the Palau Robert in Barcelona, which told the history of the school through the reproduction and revival of various actions and performances carried out during its first twenty years of existence. To remember the Festival of the Sea, the photos were reproduced at natural size as was the stage design. Besides this, Susana G. Körver, Joan Alonso and Xavier Olivé gave a workshop on make-up and stage design that would end in the creation of a “Mermaid Paella”.
Text: Xavier Olivé and Rubén Alcaraz.