Geoff Dyer and Laura Fernandez: The desire to travel: being a tourist in the 21st century, Barcelona

Writer Geoff Dyer talks to journalist and writer Laura Fernández about the meaning and longing for travel at a time when tourism has become a global phenomenon.

Tourism is one of the most unique phenomena of our time, with a powerful symbolic universe that activates codes, beliefs and desires deeply rooted in our society, at the same time that it is an economic sector of great impact on a global scale. The English writer Geoff Dyer has reflected on it in works such as Amor en Venecia , muerte en Benares (Literatura Random House, 2010) or Arenas blancas (Literatura Random House, 2017), where he delves into the experience of the contemporary traveler, often caught in the paradox of aspiring to a unique and authentic experience, while being aware that it is part of a carefully planned set. In this session, Dyer talks with the writer and journalist Laura Férnandez, who recently published Hay un monstruo en el lago (En Debate, 2024), a reflection on the construction of the tourist narrative around the myth of Loch Ness, and together they will seek answers to questions of our time: what does it mean to travel? Why do we visit the places we visit? What is behind this experience that is so deeply appealing to us?

With this session, the CCCB starts a program to reflect on one of the most characteristic phenomena of the present which, with a profound impact at an economic, social and environmental level, poses great challenges that affect our life in the city. This program has the support of the Diputació de Barcelona and the Barcelona City Council.

You can find out more information HERE.