Ruta gráfica

Ruta Gráfica. Designs for the Sound of Valencia showcases posters and graphic designs for what was popularly known as the ruta del bakalao, the city’s thriving rave and clubbing scene in the eighties and nineties.

The goal is to afford a unifying narrative on the evolution of the graphic design that grew up around the scene, one of its lesser known aspects. The point of departure for the exhibition walkthrough is Valencia’s longstanding tradition in comics and illustration, connecting with the arrival of modernity in music and aesthetics in the eighties, and ending up in the digital technologies that defined the final phases of the phenomenon. The exhibits are supplemented with numerous interviews with the various agents involved in the design process—designers, artists, printers and cultural managers—along with a selection of classic posters and merchandising from the time.

The idea behind Ruta Gráfica is to offer a coherent discourse on the beginnings, evolution and apogee of an aesthetic and imaginary highly specific to Valencia, while at once defending its unique artistic and cultural value.