La Verbena de la Paloma: fiesta, worship and zarzuela
In the context of Spain’s representation at the Prague Quadrennial in 2023, the exhibition ‘La Verbena de la Paloma: fiesta, worship and zarzuela’, presented at the Cervantes Institute in Prague, was designed.
A verbena is a popular festival in a neighbourhood or locality, usually associated with a patron saint. In the case of the Verbena de la Paloma, it honours the Virgen de la Paloma, the popular patron saint of Madrid, and people take to the streets dressed as chulapas and chulapos to the rhythm of chotis in a great celebration of the common imaginary. This exhibition, which brings together elements of the verbena itself as well as the Zarzuela inspired by it, aims to bring the public closer to the streets of Madrid and recreate the festive atmosphere of August nights in the city.
The space is structured in three parts, as well as the guiding thread of the exhibition: temple, street and theater. The temple has a circular shape, crowned by ribbons that refer to the crown of the Virgen de la Paloma, giving the space a more sacred connotation. In the street, the religious iconography of the Virgen de la Paloma is interwoven with the theatrical and musical evocation of the characters of the Zarzuela. This is made up of two lines of panels that can be traversed on both sides, giving rise to different scenes, such as the projection of a film or the discovery of an old pianola. The crowning of the panels on the street alludes to the triangular shawl decoration of the balconies of Madrid.
Finally, the theater crowns the end of the street with its decorative façade, in the style of the Teatro de la Zarzuela in Madrid. The presence of two old seats invites you to sit down to watch and listen to scenes from the zarzuela Verbena de la Paloma, after having walked around the stage full of record covers, photos by Martín Santos Yubero, writings by Tomás Bretón and Ricardo de la Vega and costumes and Manila shawls. The entire exhibition space is accompanied by musical offerings that help to recreate this celebratory scene. The gaze of the illustrator Cristina Daura re-imagines the iconography of the verbena and closes the exhibition.
The project thus invites people to discover this Spanish cultural legacy that fills our public spaces with richness. The echo of this celebration has also reached the International Classical Theatre Festival of Almagro, in Ciudad Real, after the end of the Quadrennial.
