This weekend the conFusión festival returns to Valencia. A must-see intimate festival put together by volunteers and artists alike to bring you a weekend filled with music, dance, art and poetry. Tina McCallan Reports…
conFusión Festival, one of the most exciting and alternative of the small festivals that take place in Valencia returns to our streets this weekend! On Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 October, the festival will take over Benimaclet turning squares, cafes, alternative spaces and homes into venues for art, music, dance and poetry.
conFusión’s remit is to highlight the creative and collaborative capacities of everyone through creating an artistic event that has a significant social impact without financial interest or advertising. Volunteers work throughout the year to make it happen starting with the open calls for artistic proposals as well as the venues that will host the proposals. The result is, one weekend a year, the balconies, kitchens, terraces, and squares are filled with all kinds of artistic and cultural experiences. It’s fascinating to wander around and come across a gig taking place in someone’s kitchen or garden.
The main principles that characterize this event and make it uniquely special are the concepts of sharing, community, cooperation, social responsibility, participation, equality, total inclusion and free expression. conFusión shows that everyone has something to contribute, everything is done voluntarily, so every piece counts. The inspiration for this year’s festival comes from looking at some of the tiles that cover the Benimaclet houses, tiles of different colours, shapes and sizes which all fit together. That’s why this year’s logo is a “trencadís” a type of mosaic made of broken bits of ceramic or china stuck together with cement popularised by Gaudi. This symbolises the community coming together in all its different forms of creativity.
In the VIII edition, there will be more than 100 artistic experiences in eight categories including music, urban art, audio-visuals, poetry, workshops/talks, exhibitions, performing arts. The format is face-to-face and will meet all the necessary restrictions. This year, a mobile app will replace the paper map and will be used to guide the viewer around the festival. In it you will find all the information you need about the events that will make up this year’s multi-coloured “trencadís”, as well as the 40 locations of this festival.
The action starts on both days at 11.00 am and continues all day (with a break for lunch). There are too many events to list here but some highlights on Saturday include a feminist twerking workshop with Krizia Cullaude called “Dancing Pleasure” at space Amparo Arce at 11.00, Dos Quinzets a participative traditional dance and music workshop at 12.00 at El Pati, and at 19.00 at the same space, Hopla Manouche with pure 30’s Jazz. On Sunday there is a “Doodle Paradise” workshop with Marie Julou and Kristine Schnappenburg where the public will work collaboratively on a large doodle and a live gig by Mr Sanchez, a really cool, previously London based indie power rock trio.
Live music is programmed on both evenings in the Horts Urbans de Benimaclet, a kind of urban garden/field on the outskirts of Benimaclet. This festival made me fall in love with Valencia, the inclusivity, the sense of community and the pure unbridled fun of it all. Download the app and off you go!
Live Music, Horts Urbans de Benimaclet: Saturday 16th:
17.30 – 18.25 DevonteLemonte: Banda de R&B, Pop, Funk
18:45 – 19:35 La Ultima Zona: Ska
20:00 – 21:30 Intraperlo: transgressive rock
Sunday 17th
18.00 – 19.30 Lady Luz: Pop Fusion
19.45-20.20 Mr Sanchez: power indie rock.
Click here for the entire program of the Benimaclet conFusión 2021.
or on mobile phones -to see all the activities much easier- the app can be downloaded on Android or on iOS.
You can also check out their Facebook.
