Program Contrallum 2025

CATALÀ

CASTELLANO

 

Dear night walkers,

In this tenth edition, we invite you to stroll and discover the surroundings of the Mercat, an area we haven’t explored much until now. As always, we’ve sought to blend light, creativity, and ingenuity to highlight hidden corners and the heritage of our village, with an eye on the present and its dilemmas — our dilemmas too.

We hope you enjoy the walk, and may the darkness enlighten us.

 

Col·lectiu Contrallum

 

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Thanks to Biblioteca municipal, Brigada municipal, CEIP Rodamilans, CIFP Joan Taix, Col·lectiu Bojos per Galileo, Club Tennis Sineu, Dimonis de sa Cova des Fossar, Díngola, Ferreria Fontcuberta Artigues, Ferreria Germans Ramis, Flowerscence, Fusteria sa Serradora, Gent Gran de Sineu, IES Sineu, Iguzzini, Joan Vanrell, Massay Fotografia, Muchal Foundation, Pàdel Sineu, Pep Lluís Pol, Pineta Instal·lacions, Policia Local, Protecció Civil, Sa Pobla Tennis Club, Ferreteria Ferriol Gamma and Sineu en Bici i a Peu.

Special thanks to the neighbours who have opened their homes to set up and/or give us light, to the artisans who have helped us in the preparation and assembly of the constructions; to the bars and restaurants who have collaborated with the collection of materials, to the citizens who have provided them, and to the team of volunteers who have made this event possible.

 

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THE ITINERARY

 

1. Galileo ve a «fer dimecres» | plaça des Fossar
2. En bolles (d’Es Nuu) | carrer del Sol
3. Sec de pou | placeta de les Germanies
4. Jardins de pau | carrer d’Avall
5. Ferrum, -i (n.) | carrer de Fra Joan Riera
6. Sa Serradora electrica | carrer Menestrals
7. Destinació: la Ilum | carrer Gran
8. Qui no vol pols, que no balli a s’Era | plaça de s’Era
9. Camí florit carrer | Dega Joan Rotger
10. El vol del record | carrer del Fang
11. Simfonies d’es Mercadal | plaça des Mercadal

 

For your safety: do not touch the installations. Please respect the barriers and follow the route direction.

 

 

1. GALILEO COMES TO «FER DIMECRES»

In November 1880, a report on the weekly market appeared in the island press: “The market square was packed with fattened pigs. Their price ranged from 8.50 to 10.75 pesetas per arroba.” From the 1830s to the 1950s, demand and profitability for fattening pigs destined for the peninsular market were significant, and Wednesdays were a prime point of sale—so much so that the town council even auctioned off the manure produced by these animals on market day. Here, once again, we have collaborated with “Col·lectiu Bojos per Galileo”, who this year surprise us with this dance of pendulums:

EL BALL HIPNÒTIC DELS PÈNDOLS

Watching the oscillations of the main lamp of Pisa Cathedral, the young Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) began to investigate how pendulums work and spread their hypnotic magic to other scientists of the stature of Johann Bernoulli (Basel, 1667–1748). They discovered that these devices are very stubborn: their oscillations do not depend on the material they are made of or on the amplitude of the swing, only on the length of the string.

Its formula tells us that the trajectory is an arc of a circumference (2π), that the engine of the system is gravity (g), and that, indeed, to change the time one oscillation lasts (the period, T) we only need to change the length of its support.

The dance of the pendulums is nothing more than a game of balance in weightless suspension, a coordinated accord like the one that should govern this world of ours where, sadly, powerful murderers insist on cutting the strings from which the fragile lives of thousands of people hang.

Music: Nocturne No. 1, Op. 9 by Frédéric Chopin, performed by Kun‑Woo Paik.

 

2. EN BOLLES (D’ES NUU)

Black light, or Wood’s light, is a light composed of a purple hue with an ultraviolet component. This light is used in medicine, in the restaurant world and in numismatics. In the 1960s and 70s it began to be adopted by young hippies as a new symbol of the idea of freedom. By extension, it started to be used in theatre and nightclubs, as it makes certain colours stand out over others, achieving striking effects.

In Sineu, this light likely became popular in the 1980s and 90s, when the town became one of the island’s references for nightlife. As a result of that moment, these stairs were renamed by the generations of young people from the ’80s, ’90s and later as ses Escales des Nuu, in reference to the famous pub located here during that period.

These stairs connecting d’Avall Street and Sol Street are known to older residents as ses Escales de Cas Tintorer—taking the name of the adjacent house, now Can Querol. The stairs were renovated in 1907; the current configuration is the result of the works for the new Covered Market (es Pes des Porcs), carried out between 1949 and 1957.

 

3. SEC DE POU

Not so long ago, the role of public wells was fundamental. Supplying water to the town was, at the very least, essential, and the municipal network—documented since the 14th century—came to include twelve points where water could be drawn. For some time now their usefulness as water‑collection points has been practically nil, but they serve the basic function of reminding us of the past and the importance of a resource essential for life. This is the Pou de Ca na Morera (formerly de na Prats), purchased by the Town Council in 1584.

In 2025, drought alerts have spread throughout Mallorca, to the extent that water reserves have dropped below 50% and, in some towns, restrictions were imposed during the summer months or water had to be supplied by tanker trucks. The Pla de Mallorca and Sineu are no exception; water is life—for people, for agriculture and for livestock. We must save and use it carefully; and activities such as tourism must also be aware and take action.

So let us listen to the lament of drought or the harmony of water, and remember, literally, that “little by little, the basin fills up.”

 

4. JARDINS DE PAU

The camí d’Avall was the road into town from the Santa Margalida road to Es Fossar square and, in the official signage of 1863, it was designated “Migueletes Street,” in reference to the militia of soldiers known by that name, which emerged in the time of the Catalan‑Aragonese Crown and was abolished by Philip V after the War of the Spanish Succession. During the Second Republic, the street was renamed “Manuel Azaña Street”; during the Civil War and Franco’s dictatorship it was called “Lieutenant Pedro Mateu Street.” It kept this name until 1987, when, on the proposal of the Cultural Information Committee, it recovered the name carrer d’Avall.

Given the history of this street name—linked to the army and armed conflicts—we wanted to dedicate a space to the need for PEACE in capital letters. Unfortunately, in recent years we have also been breaking records in wars; according to the Escola de Pau at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, in 2024 there were 37 active wars, the highest figure of the last twelve years and since World War II. It is also the time when the most people have been displaced by wars and conflicts.

It is clear that we need a global reflection to stop all this barbarity and to cry out for world PEACE. It is also necessary to invoke the force of life and nature, since in ruined spaces nature ends up finding its place, as can be seen here. Even if it seems contradictory, life ultimately gains space over death and destruction, despite the consequences of conflict.

The drawing was made by Rderous, illustrator and one of the organisers of Contrallum.

 

5. FERRUM, -I (N.)

In September 1930, the urbanisation project for Camp d’en Riutort was drafted at the request of the plot’s owner, Esteve Ribas i Borràs. This property, just over two cuarterades, bordered today’s carrer d’Avall, Es Fossar square, the Torrent des Fossar and the railway line. Two streets were planned, parallel to carrer d’Avall and running the same direction, east–west, dividing the estate, “Es Camp”, into two blocks easily subdivided into plots. In addition, at its western end, another street was planned, perpendicular to the previous two, to separate these plots from Plaza Mercado. At the eastern end, “E Street” [carrer de l’Estació] was planned, to leave a lane bordering the railway, preventing its use as a dumping ground.

These streets—which we could consider one of Sineu’s first expansions—have historically been occupied by small industries and artisans. On this street, one vestige of this craft tradition is the blacksmith’s shops. Working iron is an ancient, prehistoric task. It is ancient because many cultures have a deity for iron in their mythology: Hephaestus for the Greeks, Vulcan for the Romans, or Tubal‑Cain in Genesis. It is also prehistoric to the point that historians named the last period of Prehistory the “Iron Age,” when humans began to use this metal—a truly revolutionary change.

Tools and implements we highlight today include the anvil, the forge, the vice, the hammer, the tilt hammer, the sledge…

 

6. SA SERRADORA ELÈCTRICA

In 1911, the local publication Sinium ran an article titled Avenç in which the initiative of Antoni d’Espanya i Serra (Palma, 1883–?) to build a power plant was praised, as it would “soon give this town a touch that will take it out of its old moulds: electric light.” The following year the Sineu Power Station (CES) was inaugurated, on a parcelled section of Camp de Son Font next to the railway station and the Torrent des Fossar, and a contract was signed with the Town Hall to supply electricity for public lighting—an installation of 50 lanterns.

Fourteen years later, in 1926, the owner agreed with the Inca‑based company La Propagadora Balear de Alumbrado, S.A. to sell the electricity distribution network with all associated assets and rights. The sale did not include the generating plant, which, over the years, has had various uses—from housing the Granja Juan Mestre to the current Sa Serradora.

This installation has been created by the FPB students in Electricity and Electronics at IES Sineu.

 

7. DESTINACIÓ: LA LLUM

At four in the afternoon on 17 February 1878, the first train from Palma arrived at Sineu station. This station was part of the Línia General, which connected Palma, Inca and Manacor; from the very beginning it was the most profitable and busiest of the Ferrocarrils de Mallorca. It consisted of a passenger building, lavatories, a warehouse for goods, a water tower, a laundry, cattle pens and, from 1900, a coal dock—evidence of the budding mining industry in our town.

The current passenger building was inaugurated on 23 April 1926, a fine example of railway architecture, constructed between 1924 and 1926. The new transport system helped to modernise the town and boosted the arrival of visitors, goods and animals. The location of the station, south of the town and on the periphery, spurred growth in this direction.

In 1971, however, the Palma–Manacor rail axis was closed again, leaving Sineu without a train; it was not until 2003 that the service was restored.

 

8. QUI NO VOL POLS, QUE NO BALLI A S’ERA

In 2001, at the request of Joana M. Ferrer i Cerdà Ferrer (Sineu, 1913–2010), part of the rural estate known as l’Hort de Can Ferrer was developed. The plan set aside part of the area for green space, which the Town Council fitted out as a square in 2005. This new urban space, with a large circular esplanade at its centre, was named Plaça de s’Era—a clear reference to the estate’s toponym recorded in the 1868 land register as La Era or El Abeurador. It also referred to the public threshing floors once located near Es Fossar, which for a time was known as Plaça de les Eres.

We are thus taking advantage of this circular space of the era, reminiscent of a Greco‑Roman theatre, to create a point dedicated to dance—a discipline that moves us through the movement of bodies, allows us to express individual or collective feelings and has become one of the symbols of human culture and society.

 

9. CAMÍ FLORIT

In the southern part of Sineu, between es Sacoster and the urban core, runs a small watershed that drains into the Torrent des Fossar. For this reason, small irrigated plots destined for vegetable gardens have historically been located here: Hort de Can Beia, Sínia de Can Cugula, Hort de Son Garriga, Hort de Can Ferrer and Hort des Felips.

And it is here that we have found the ideal place to celebrate Any Llompart, as this year marks 100 years since the birth of Josep Maria Llompart, one of the most powerful poets and intellectuals our land has produced. An tireless cultural activist, he was one of the founders of l’Obra Cultural Balear and its president from 1978 to 1986; he was also president of the Associació d’Escriptors en Llengua Catalana and a member of the Secció Filològica of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. He received numerous awards and honours.

Thus, with the pollinators—made by students at CEIP Rodamilans—as companions, we invite you to enter the Camí florit by Josep Maria Llompart, but also the Camí florit by Ànimos Parrec. If Llompart gave us a snapshot of the foravila of the 1990s, the santjoaner group describes what lies on the outskirts of the 21st century.

(And if we want bees to survive so they can continue pollinating, we need to reflect…)

 

 

10. EL VOL DEL RECORD

Fang Street owes its name to the fact that, in the past—when it rained—this street filled with mud washed down by runoff from the steep streets that connect perpendicularly. We have evidence of this name from the 18th century in the plano ichnographico de la Villa de Sineu (1786) by Jeroni de Bestard i Solà.
Two elements on this street take us a little further back in time: at Can Joan Monara, a round shield with festoons and volutes depicts the coat of arms of the Riutort family beneath the IHS monogram and the inscription ANY 1584.

For those of us “down here,” rising up makes us feel closer to those “up there”… So, at this point in our route, with these little planes, we want to take the opportunity to fly into memory and thus remember a Contrallum volunteer who left us at the beginning of this year. Fly high, Joan!

 
11. SIMFONIES D’ES MERCADAL

From 1864 to 1987, Es Mercadal was the space where the weekly market originally took place. This location, however, gradually lost importance as a site of transactions in favour of Es Fossar square and Sa Plaça. In 1878, the first Fira d’agost was held on the third Sunday of that month. From the third edition we know that “Sant Marc square [Plaça de Sant Marc] was well stocked with apples coming from the valley of Petra, (…), nougat, hazelnuts, potatoes, peppers and hemp from La Puebla and Muro.” A century later, in 1983, Baleares correspondent Miquel Fontcuberta i Palou (Sineu, 1948) wrote the last report on the Fira d’agost, where the gathering of sellers and buyers had disappeared and it had become a set of events that brought the patron saint festivities of the Marededéu d’agost to a close.

In this corner, the project BuyMySilence by Antoni Fluxà, from Sineu, together with MSC by Miquel Seguí, from Inca, have created this musical piece exclusively for Contrallum. BuyMySilence experiments with electronic ambient house music and has created a play of lights and sounds with sheets, inspired by the history of the hemp (cànyom) trade that took place here.