Echoes of the Port in Tarragona: 6 Savis of the Serrallo within a Digital Sea

Ecos del Port transforms Shelter 1 at the Moll de Costa in Tarragona into an audiovisual experience about the sea, the Serrallo, and maritime memory. The proposal combines projections, sounds, light, image, and digital creation to also address climate change and biodiversity.

It all begins with the stories of six elders from the maritime neighborhood of the Serrallo and continues with a mapping that surrounds the audience. The result is not a conventional visit: it is a direct entry into port memory, with technology acting as a guide (and without asking permission from the old custom).

What the audience will find at Ecos del Port

Six elders explaining the Serrallo from within

For the Tarragona reader, the proposal has a very specific value: it places voices from the Serrallo at the center of a cultural space on the very waterfront. It does not speak about the neighborhood from afar, but starts from the stories of people raised, born, and grown in the neighborhood, with a direct connection to the port.

Daviana Muñoz, director and curator of El Jardí Digital, defines them as “the wise of the sea, the wise of the Serrallo.” The phrase sums up the human core of the installation: before the projections and audiovisual architecture, there are people who have lived the daily relationship with the port.

This choice changes the way maritime heritage is presented. Instead of limiting it to objects, buildings, or dates, Ecos del Port builds it from voice and memory. The audience listens to stories from the maritime community while images and sounds expand on what has been told.

How does the audiovisual journey work?

The journey starts with projections of the six elders of the Serrallo and continues with immersive mapping. Then, an audiovisual architecture of sounds, light, and image surrounds the people entering, creating a sensory experience linked to the sea.

The installation has been set up inside an ephemeral architecture created especially for this project. According to Muñoz, these constructions allow for a journey through the sea and the development of the discourse of Ecos del Port.

The proposal also incorporates documentary references to the Serrallo and a young artistic perspective. The creation is by Eudald Serrano, just over 24 years old, who presents his vision of the sea and the maritime neighborhood. The contrast is interesting: the memory of a whole community passes through the filter of a young creator and digital tools.

• Projections: the stories of the six elders of the Serrallo open the journey.
• Mapping: the images transform the space and surround the audience.
• Sounds of the sea: the sound dimension connects the installation with port life.
• Digital creation: technology articulates a contemporary reading of maritime heritage.

Why this proposal also talks about the future of the Port

What is its relationship with climate change and biodiversity?

For those living in Tarragona, the issue is not confined to an exhibition room: the sea is part of identity, port activity, and life in the Serrallo. Ecos del Port uses this proximity to propose reflection on climate change and biodiversity.

The initiative puts history and innovation in dialogue through new artistic languages. The sounds of the sea and stories from the maritime community serve to rediscover the bond between the port, the sea, and the people who have written and protagonized its history.

There is no closed lesson nor a discourse with institutional megaphone voice. There is a sensory journey that asks the audience to come with an open mind. Muñoz has emphasized that it is a new experience, created between artificial intelligence and documentary references of the Serrallo.

Here appears the most singular point of the project: technology does not replace memory, but puts it into circulation in another way. The voice of a neighborhood elder can end up being part of a space of light, sound, and image without completely losing its local origin.

What does Eudald Serrano’s perspective contribute?

Eudald Serrano’s view offers a young artistic reading of an environment with a strongly marked maritime memory. The creator, just over 24 years old, observes the sea and the Serrallo through digital creation, projections, and mapping.

This combination prevents heritage from being presented as a motionless piece. The elders’ stories come from lived past, while Serrano’s tools bring them into a contemporary language. The result connects two ways of understanding the port: that of those who inhabited it and that of those who reinterpret it with technology.

The director and curator has expressed it as the goal of portraying technology from the creation of a young person. The proposal, therefore, is not limited to showing visual effects: it wants to show how a generation can read maritime heritage and turn it into a shared experience.

Where to visit and what will come next

When can Ecos del Port be seen in Tarragona?

The public can visit Ecos del Port until September 20 at Shelter 1 of the Moll de Costa in Tarragona. The initiative was inaugurated this Thursday and is part of the Now Fest programming, the digital creativity festival.

For neighbors and visitors, the location is part of the experience. The project was not installed in a neutral space, but in a facility at the Moll de Costa, close to the very port environment that gives meaning to the stories, sounds, and images.

Now Fest brings together artists, creators, and institutions to explore new forms of expression linked to technology and innovation. In this case, the festival frames a proposal that connects digital culture and maritime heritage without separating them with a conceptual wall (nor with three layers of bureaucracy).

• Proposal: Ecos del Port.
• Space: Shelter 1 at the Moll de Costa in Tarragona.
• Visiting period: until September 20.
• Framework: Now Fest programming.

What activities will continue at the Moll de Costa?

Ecos del Port is the starting point of a new cycle of activities promoted by El Jardí Digital. In the coming months, the Moll de Costa will host proposals linked to creativity, culture, and digital arts.

The next major event will arrive on November 27 and 28, with a new edition of NOW FEST. The source does not yet specify the program of these activities, but it does position the Moll de Costa as a space that will continue hosting projects related to artistic innovation.

The artistic project is co-financed by the European Maritime, Fisheries and Aquaculture Fund (EMFAF), and has the support of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the Provincial Council of Tarragona, and GALP Costa Daurada. The financing explains the institutional scale of the project, but its starting point continues to be much closer: six voices from the Serrallo and a young creator looking at the same sea from different places.

Ecos del Port gathers six elders from the Serrallo, a digital creation by Eudald Serrano, and an audiovisual journey at Shelter 1 of the Moll de Costa. The visit allows approaching maritime heritage through memory, sounds, and technology, while raising questions about biodiversity and climate change. Tarragona provides the space; the Serrallo, the voices; and the sea, the question that remains floating.

Source of the article: Mar Rovira / Catalan News Agency