Sun and Sea in Medellín
The Golden Lion-winning opera-performance, Sun & Sea, has toured the world with its innovative concept of a fictional beach where the everyday becomes a metaphor for the environmental crisis. In 2025, Medellín joined the list of cities that have hosted this Lithuanian work, with the Citadel of the Fourth Revolution and the Transformation of Learning (C4TA) chosen as the venue to transform into the beach. For four days, it welcomed more than 4,700 spectators thanks to the joint efforts of the Museum of Modern Art of Medellín and the cultural agency Nova et Vetera.
Conceived by Lithuanian creators Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė (director), Vaiva Grainytė (playwright), and Lina Lapelytė (composer), Sun & Sea transforms an enclosed space into a beach bathed in an imaginary sun. From an elevated vantage point, the audience observes vacationers in swimsuits who, through songs and dialogue, gradually reveal how the apparent lightness of leisure conceals a collective narrative about climate change, social apathy, and the effects of overconsumption.
The performance in Medellín featured approximately 15 international artists from Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Spain, and other countries, the Emberá-Chamí singer-songwriter Gladys Yagarí, and 20 members of the Sirenaica Foundation, an organization that for over 30 years has promoted musical education for children and young people as a tool for freedom and peacebuilding.
This event was part of the Medellín Cultural Season, which brought together more than 1,000 artists and 200 organizations across nearly 50 venues throughout the city. Within this framework, Sun & Sea was presented as one of the large-scale international shows that connected local audiences with global artistic creation.
With 16 performances between October 23 and 26, Sun & Sea arrived in Medellín after its success in Bogotá, where the Teatro Colón was transformed into an artificial beach using 20 tons of recycled sand. For Medellín, the production was scaled up: approximately 33 tons of sand were used, and the venue could accommodate 400 attendees per performance.
Sun & Sea’s presentation offered a unique interpretation of the Citadel of the Fourth Revolution and the Transformation of Learning (C4TA), a space imbued with layers of memory after having been the former El Buen Pastor Women’s Prison, and which today functions as a university environment dedicated to knowledge, technology, and creation. In this context, the C4TA reaffirmed its commitment as a center that integrates research, innovation, and creative practices, and as an infrastructure capable of hosting internationally renowned artistic projects, within the processes of cultural and educational transformation that are already shaping Medellín and, in particular, Comuna 13.
Interview with director Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė
Sun & Sea in Medellín was presented by MAMM, Nova et Vetera, Promotora Cultural and Proantioquia with the support of Comfama, Muaré, Toc Talk, Fundación Sirenaica, Crepes & Waffles, El Espectador, Máximo Nivel, El Colombiano, CoCrea and Sapiencia of the Mayor’s Office of Medellín.