Guide to the decorated streets of Gràcia: nostalgia and other refuges

BarcelonaNostalgia often acts as a refuge from the uncertainties of the present, something that can also be seen starting this Friday in the decorations of the Gràcia festival, where examples of some of the major crises we are facing coexist with multiple references to times when it wasn't so hot and the world seemed a little less warm. The clearest can be seen in the Plaça de la Vila, where, with the explicit title The Grace we long for, You can travel back in time and return, for a while, to walk past the city's historic shops that have since disappeared, such as the Olla de Torrent or the Caspolino attractions.

This epicenter radiates the nostalgic energy that moves many of the 23 streets decorated this year, which take us back to the campsite where we spent our summers in the 1980s, which is set up in Plaça del Nord; to the more traditional games at the circus on Carrer Providència; or to those months of August in the grandparents' village skillfully recreated by Fraternitat de Baix. It is also possible, of course, to revisit films and records from the past. In this field, the most notable are the homage to Star Wars on Carrer Libertad, which will delight fans of the saga, and the tribute to the Beatles by Joan Blanques from Baix de tot, with a Yellow submarine including.

However, as always, in the face of the complexity of the present, there are also those who seek refuge in conspiracy theories. For them, the Sant Antoni route offers an extraordinary visit to a reserved area where there appear to be signs of extraterrestrial life and where, of course, there's also a nod to the past with a wonderful ET replica. If you're still hungry for more, you can always visit Joan Blanques de Baix's chaotic laboratory, where, after a failed scientific experiment, friendly robots, viruses, and other strange creatures reign supreme.

Now, with the heat already scorching from the streets of Gràcia, what the body really craves is a climatic refuge. The colorful beehive on Carrer Tordera or the Hawaiian village in Plaça Rovira i Trias are two good options. Also, the Mayan jungle on Carrer Verdi, with a spectacular entrance to the temple, makes it a favorite to win an award that seeks to revive Carrer Mozart, which this year has opted to reinterpret the legend of Sant Jordi and, once again, has combined exuberance—the impressive giant dragon—with attention to the smallest details.

Tradition is also strongly present in the decorations for this year's Gràcia festival. After missing out on popular culture events last year, streets like Progrés and Jesús dedicated their decorations to the festival. The former, with a magnificent ode to the correfoc (fire run), which nevertheless includes its now traditional pool of water, and the latter with a thoughtful homage to devils, giants, drummers, and more, culminating in a striking inverted castle that can be admired from Gran de Gràcia Street and an elaborate auca of the festival.

Housing and the climate crisis

But the wide range of refuges provided by the decorated streets is not synonymous with alienation. During the walk, there is plenty of time to reflect on some of the crises we are suffering. They do so with humor on Pearl Street, where the display of displaced species offered by its Climate beast It's the perfect companion to talk about the climate crisis, which is all-encompassing, also due to the heat wave we've got stuck in our backs.

Housing speculation and gentrification—already very present during Thursday's vindictive opening speech—also made their way into this year's street-pattern competition. Ciudad Real and Lluís Vives dedicate their streets to the former with a critique of vulture funds through the increasingly less imaginary city of Rapiñapolis, and the second with a reformulation of the fable of the three little pigs where the wolf seems to have commercial interests in their houses.