Hundreds of people will see concerts and dance next weekend in an industrial warehouse in Barcelona. The festival is called Shadow and, although it is far from being as well-known and popular as a Sónar, with its five editions held so far it has earned an irrefutable prestige.
The festival has a subtitle: encounter with unusual sounds. It is celebrated on December 5, 6, 7 and 8 and its lineup features names such as In Strict Confidence, Sixth June, Kalte Nacht, Puerta Negra, A Split-Second or Spanish proposals such as HD Substance, Darkway, 80%Baul or Most Significant Beat. But the important thing here is not the specific weight of these claims, but rather proposing “artists who represent a narrative or thematic thread, instead of depending only on big names,” as the management of the festival, which will take place in the old ENMASA factory, in the El Bon Pastor neighborhood, northeast of Barcelona.
And as important as what is done at Ombra is where it is done. Within the project to regenerate Barcelona’s industrial heritage is Mercedes, a future eco-neighborhood: 185,000 square meters in the Bon Pastor neighborhood, designed under the city’s famous five-minute scheme, the maximum time needed to get from one place to another. to another. It will accommodate more than 3,000 new residents (40% of the homes will be officially protected or affordable, as well as a space reserved for social rent) who will share the space with offices, shops, public use and a teaching campus whose first occupant has fallen on the road.
But in the 50s of the 20th century, the heart of the neighborhood beat with the manufacturing of aviation engines. ENMASA (Spanish Aviation Engine Company) settled there and, starting in 1970, also began manufacturing vehicle engines. In the sixties, it began to build Mercedes-Benz vans and, already in the eighties, this automobile company moved to that industrial complex, which is why it has been known since then as ENMASA Mercedes-Benz.
Before this industrial dynamizer, El Bon Pastor was urbanized through the construction of what were known as Cheap Houses, during the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera. Different laws allowed the expansion of small single-family urban housing, in the peripheries, to accommodate new labor, necessary in the cities, arriving from the rural areas. When a century later we look at what remains of the Cheap Houses in cities like Madrid or Barcelona, what we find are rather very expensive houses, colonies of exclusive chalets with a bit of garden in what is no longer the outskirts. .
When these houses were planned at the end of the 1920s, they were thought of as a miniature city: its squares, the chapel, the nursery school, the school, the commissary and the Civil Guard barracks. The eco-district that the Spanish real estate investor Conren Tramway is going to build there – author of other interventions especially in the Catalan city, such as the Torre Cerdà, the renovation of Las Tres Chimeneas del Paral·lel, or the pharmaceutical campus in Esplugues – picks up something of that idea, although without focusing on the working class.
But this project “designed to put the well-being of people and the environment in a green and sustainable ecosystem”, without cars and with many shade trees, is being delayed. And that delay is what allows the Ombra festival to continue taking place there. The plan of Conren Tramway, which bought the land in 2008, is to begin construction precisely in the central warehouse, where the factory was. He announced that the Elisava School of Design and Engineering, belonging to the private University of Vic, would be located there, and that he would deliver the building ready in 2026. But this summer, according to El Periódicothe university pulled out due to bureaucracy that is slowing down the project.
Meanwhile, the old engine factory is an empty place that can be used, although in the uncertainty of its future, for festivals like Ombra. “It is a space that combines industrial history with a post-apocalyptic air,” describes Raúl Gayo, director of the festival. “It is a place that evokes feelings of rawness, authenticity and nostalgia, making it ideal for musical genres that explore dark and futuristic themes. Its architecture provides an immersive experience that transforms the perception of music into something almost cinematic,” he details.
The future of this proposal there depends on “agreements with the owners, legal permits and the sustainability of the place,” he explains. “If it remains viable, it is likely to continue there, as the space is integral to the festival’s identity. However, changes such as real estate speculation could influence the decision,” he adds.
Gayo warns of how real estate speculation limits access to places as particular as these disused warehouses, which can be used for artistic proposals. “They are at constant risk of being demolished or transformed into lucrative projects,” he points out. The ship in which they were projected dreams of innovation in aviation by the Cuban engineer Arturo Elizalde, who died unexpectedly in 1925, it was a construction for ENMANSA (the company into which Elizalde’s company was transformed) created by the architect Robert Terrades.
The ship is a emblematic example of industrial architecture from the developmental era, inaugurated in 1951. Its large and clean interior volumes, designed to work with ease in the assembly of engines and the dynamic connection with the green space and exterior roads are two of its main characteristics. Furthermore, two types of buildings are combined in one: the offices, in linear concrete modules, present in several directions, and the workshops, in “a much lighter warehouse, built with a metal structure, on which the teeth of the saw that illuminate the interior space uniformly,” describes the Barcelona Institute of Culture.
But the Ombra project is not easy. Precisely because it is located in a unique place, “it makes the organization of the event more expensive,” says Raúl Gayo, “from permits to temporary infrastructure,” which “can endanger the long-term continuity of the festival.”
For now, the organization asks to look at the present and finalize preparations for four days of musical and cultural activities. In the musical part, the objective is to highlight genres with little visibility in other types of more commercial festivals, such as darkwave, EBM and alternative electronic sounds.
Unlike macro festivals, a proposal like this imposes as principles “well-organized schedules without excessive overlaps”, “respect for sound” through “high quality equipment and an acoustic balance in each space”, guaranteeing comfort of the bathing, rest and hydration areas and “transparent communication” with the public. For Raúl Gayo, in addition to a “solid concept”, his festival has found its place thanks to a “coherent artistic selection”; a unique space that generates “unforgettable atmospheres”, as happens in the old Mercedes-Benz factory; the combination of music with visual design and interactive elements and, especially, “the connection with the community,” including “the public in the cultural process.”
The audiovisual experience is something that the festival audience highly values, what one dreams of calling a hallmark. “It involves careful curation that connects the visuals to the music organically. From real-time projections to the use of lighting that highlights the architecture of the space, every detail is designed to amplify the audience’s immersion,” highlights the director.
While the urban transformation of El Buen Pastor arrives, the Maquinista Mercedes neighborhood association, very active in the neighborhood, is concerned about that future. Warning that the area will grow by 300% in the coming years but there is a lack of school equipment. They are especially concerned about mobility, overcrowding, the height of tower blocks and gentrification. But, between now and then, an initiative like Ombra celebrates the ephemeral use of disused industrial architecture. In the future of the festival’s direction, “consolidate it as a world reference for alternative electronic music, maintaining its intimate and authentic essence.”
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