The exhibition, titled ‘Under the Regime's Sun. Benidorm, the Bikini, and Modernity in Francoist Spain (1950-1970)’, investigates the paradox between the tourism boom, with Benidorm as a symbol, and the dictatorship's moral restrictions. According to the University of Valencia, the project is curated by Lucía Sellés Calvillo.
The exhibition includes archival photographs, historical swimwear, film posters, and magazines from the era, demonstrating how tourism served as a strategic tool during Francoist developmentalism. The UV highlights that the exhibition examines the construction of Benidorm's tourist image as an international showcase for a Spain aiming to appear modern and open.
The exhibition also features works by Equipo Límite (Cari Roig and Cuki Guillén) that engage with the historical archive, reinforcing the contrast between official propaganda and social reality. The bikini, created on July 5, 1946, turns 80 as a 20th-century icon, and the exhibition uses this anniversary to review its significance in dictatorial Spain.
One of the notable episodes is that of young British woman Marjorie Roberts, fined in Benidorm in 1959 for wearing a bikini, a case that gained international attention and caused a diplomatic incident. Lucía Sellés emphasizes how the regime promoted images of women in bikinis to project a modern Spain while enforcing strict moral regulations.
The researcher points to Roberts' response when sanctioned: ‘So which one do I take off?’, a statement that symbolizes the paradoxical nature of the restrictions imposed by Francoism, contrasting with the image of openness the regime sought to project externally.
