En tránsito
Lights from the Mediterranean
(An experimental attempt to fathom signals between yesterday, today and tomorrow)

El Faro de Ses Coves Blances – Sa Antoni de Portmany (Ibiza)
Project from April 14, 2024 to April 22, 2024
Exhibition opening: April 18, 2024

For the second time, after the successful pilot project in 2023, a group of artists and curators from Hamburg and Ibiza will once again come together in Sa Antoni de Portmany to artistically address the issues and problems of overtourism, the economy of movement, as well as the closely related problems of migration, flight, globalization and discrimination.

In 2023, the focus was on the philosopher Walter Benjamin and his stay on the grounds of Sa Punta des Moli during the Nazi dictatorship.
This year, the exhibition will take place at a different, but equally symbolic location and
The „Faro de Ses Coves Blances“ lighthouse will serve as a place for encounters and discussions.
Formerly located at the uninhabited end of the long bay of Sa Antoni de Portmany, it is now part of the city landscape. Inaugurated in 1897 as a symbol of sea and shipping that could be seen from far at night, the building has undergone many changes since then. It was decommissioned in 1963 and progress deprived the lighthouse of its original function.
In 2010, after a thorough restoration, the city council reopened the building and set it up as a socio-cultural center with an exhibition hall and a center for maritime studies. Its privileged location in the center of San Antoni makes the lighthouse an easily accessible and popular cultural meeting point with an annual program of exhibitions and events of all kinds.

This time, as part of the „EnTransíto“ project, the lighthouse is intended to thematically refer to the ambiguity of its symbolic effect and significance as a signal point. On the one hand, the flashing light stands for a warning of shallows in the sea and approaching cliffs to avoid capsizing. On the other hand, this signal, this glow, is not only attractive, but also serves to determine location. In the darkness, light not only attracts us, it also gives people hope, courage and confidence. If we transfer this ambiguity of the lighthouse and its signaling effect to Western and economically well-off systems, then the ambivalence inherent in the lighthouse can also be applied to the interests and motivations of migration.
On the one hand, every country wants workers and consumers from an economic point of view, and on the other hand, it would like to expel unwanted refugees quickly because the population may be concerned that they could overburden and alienate social societies and country-specific cultures. A similar area of tension can also be found within tourism, for which places like San Antoni Signal are powerful symbols. They reflect the desire for sun and relaxation and convey the scent of freedom. In places like San Antoni, vacationers can escape their everyday lives and all constraints. At the same time, however, such tourist success does not only bring prosperity and jobs. For the locals, housing becomes unaffordable, if not a scarce commodity. This not only raises the question of who is really benefiting from this prosperity, but places like San Antoni are also confronted with concerns about overcrowding and alienation in the wake of mass tourism.

For one-week, selected artists and students, together with the curatorial team of the
“En tránsito“ project, will work and interact around the symbolically charged platform of the „Faro de Ses Coves Blances“ lighthouse. In doing so, they refer to a constantly changing reality and at the same time artistically process the issues that have become visible within the themes of migration, flight, mass tourism, fear of foreign infiltration and discrimination.