Vamos a la playa
Holidays Under Franco

15.06.2025 to 07.12.2025
Museum Europäischer Kulturen

To mark the 50th anniversary of Francisco Franco’s death, the Museum Europäischer Kulturen (MEK, Museum of European Cultures) will show seven artistic approaches to dealing with the role of mass tourism in Spain during the dictatorship.

The number of democratically governed countries is falling worldwide and autocracies are on the rise. Against this backdrop, the MEK is focusing on a special phenomenon: holiday trips to a dictatorially governed country. Spain has been one of Germany’s favourite travel destinations since the 1960s. Mass tourism to the Mediterranean country began at a time when General Francisco Franco ruled there as a dictator. Franco emerged victorious from the Spanish Civil War (1936–39) and ruled the country until his death, which is being commemorated for the 50th time this year. Spain’s dire economic situation and the population’s poverty forced Franco to abandon his autocratic policies in the late 1950s. He opened the country to tourism, promoted construction of new hotels and investment in infrastructure, and set up state-run tourism offices. The holidaymakers were to bring urgently needed foreign currency into the country. For their part, the visitors appreciated the sun, beaches, low prices, and the apparently authentic, traditional lifestyle of the Spanish. Back home, the travellers shared their positive holiday experiences, thus acting as goodwill ambassadors and diverting attention from the oppression existing in the country.

But were there even opportunities for travellers to Spain to recognise the dictatorship for what it was? Eight artists (Jörg Zimmer, Ulrike Weiss, Stefanie Unruh, Annette Riemann, Tom Theunissen, Christoph Otto, Denys Blacker and Monika Anselment) reflect on the situation at the time and their memories of Francoist and post-Francoist Spain in (multimedia) installations, photographs, collages and performances.

The Vamos a la Playa: Holdays Under Franco exhibition brings together for the first time the two parts of the exhibition, Vacances amb Franco. Els meus estius a l'Espanya franquista (Holidays Under Franco: My Summers in Francoist Spain), that were shown in 2024 at two Catalan museums, the Museu de lEmpordà (Figueres) and the Bòlit Contemporary Art Center (Girona). The exhibition is based on a call for proposals initiated by Monika Anselment, inviting artists from Western Europe to submit applications for selection by a jury comprised of Anselment and representatives of the two museums mentioned above.

Exhibition Event Programme

The exhibition is accompanied by a programme of public conversations with the artists in the form of a discussion café. Other events include a panel discussion in collaboration with the Embassy of Spain and the Ibero-Amerikanische Institut – Stiftung Preußische Kulturbesitz on the development of opposition to the Franco regime in Germany; a lecture by Silke Hünecke about current standpoints regarding the legacy of the Franco regime; and a city walk with the Gernika: Deutsch-Baskischer Kulturvein e. V. (Gernika Basque-German Association) to Guernicaplatz in Zehlendorf.


A special exhibition of the Bòlit Contemporary Art Center (Girona) and the Museu de lEmpordà (Figueres) with the Museum Europäischer Kulturen – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin

Arnimallee 25
14195 Berlin

partially wheelchair accessible

U-Bahn: Dahlem-Dorf
Bus: U Dahlem-Dorf, Limonenstraße, Domäne Dahlem

Service
Strollers and wheelchairs can be borrowed from the ticket desk.

Access
Wheelchair users can access the exhibition via two ramps and a stair lift. There is no floor-based guidance system.

Sun 11:00 - 18:00
Mon closed
Tue closed
Wed 10:00 - 17:00
Thu 10:00 - 17:00
Fri 10:00 - 17:00
Sat 11:00 - 18:00

Special opening hours during public holidays
Last admission and ticket sales 30 minutes before closing time.

Tel 030 - 266 42 42 42 (Mon - Fri, 9 am - 4 pm)
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Related Links

Museum and the City: “Zusammenhalt in Turm-Form: Die katalanische Tradition der Castells” on the blog of the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (German only)