“Demons and beasts engulfed in flames chasing innocent children and adults with burning scepers and pitchforks.” It might sound like the plot of a horror movie or an excessively macabre story, but it’s the description of one of the most entertaining and eye-catching traditions of Barcelona’s festivals: the Mercè correfoc.
This year’s correfoc debuts a new Porta de l’Infern with a design that will leave no one indifferent: a structure made up of some 1,000 dismembered human bodies, measuring a total of about 7 meters high and 14 meters wide.
This arch, designed by artist Daniel Esteban, aims to represent society’s weariness, loss of sensitivity, and indifference in the face of the constant images of violence and death to which we are exposed in various media and on social media.
The structure will be divided into three parts: an outer arch formed by intertwined human limbs, simulating a “river of bodies”; a second arch serving as a resting or transition area; and an 11-meter-wide curtain that folds vertically to complete the scene.
This design has been brought to life as a large sculpture made from fragments of fire-retardant polyester resin and ceramic pieces; when fully assembled with the structure, it will weigh nearly 3,000 kilos.
A hellish figure, aesthetically speaking, but one that aims to make the public reflect and present popular culture and collective organization as a hopeful response to the “hell” of apathy and exhaustion that society is currently experiencing.
Correfoc de la Mercè: Date and Time
The Mercè Festival’s correfoc and its new “Porta de l’Infern” can be enjoyed on Saturday, September 26, on Passeig de Gràcia.
The children’s show will begin at 6:00 p.m., followed by the capirotada ( the lighting of the gallows) at 8:30 p.m. and the subsequent correfoc. In addition, between the children’s correfoc and the capirotada, attendees can enjoy a pre-show featuring lights and fireworks.
