the most intense project of my life, the dream of every teenager. it began in 2018, when 50 close friends gathered in one of our houses to throw a party while the parents were away. it was legendary. i had just started with video and made an aftermovie, which went viral in our city. soon after, we rented a small hall and gathered 250 people. we built everything ourselves, themed it as a circus, lost money, and most of our savings. we were between 19 and 22 years old, but the energy was unique.

from that night in march 2019, something was born that would later become historic in our city and in the spanish events scene. by march 2024, when i decided to step away from the project, recreo celebrated its 5th anniversary in the largest arena in valladolid, with 6,000 attendees, a production of over €150,000, the country’s most relevant djs, more than 100 workers, and over 30,000 tickets sold in the last year.

in 2019, without copying anyone and without even trying, we found a gap in the spanish event industry. we communicated on social media in a way no one else was doing and built a unique community. what today is common — local parties with their own identity, decorations, and fx — barely existed then. back in 2019, there were only clubs and big festivals. we were young friends and each one brought something to the table. alex did the numbers, nelson played music and knew other djs, patricio worked in nightlife and brought bartenders and security, ivan and others sold tickets, and i had a camera and a computer, so i handled the advertising. together we designed the theme of each party for weeks, from decoration and wristbands to t-shirts. 250 tickets, 450, 600, 900, 1,500… every party grew, every theme got better, every detail improved. tickets sold out in seconds.

in march 2022, recreo made the big leap and filled a bullring with over 3,000 people. what started as a party of friends had become something serious. i remember standing in the stands, looking out at the crowd, smiling at how surreal it all was. meetings with city councils, safety plans, large staff teams, top national djs, massive stage design, special effects… and still, the essence was there.

brands like mahou and red bull came on board. the productions became more professional, the audience kept growing, tickets sold out faster than ever. at times, over 3,000 tickets were gone in just one afternoon, even before announcing the lineup. in a surprise twist, the most important national dj appeared from the crowd, broadcast live on the big screens — something never done before. from 3,000 to 6,000 people, recreo grew until it filled the biggest venue in the region.

for a city like valladolid, 6,000 attendees is the equivalent of 100,000 in madrid. that was my last day working on what we had built from scratch at 19. for five years i was responsible for the creative direction of the company — advertising, image, decoration — while also taking part in every key decision: dates, venues, artists, safety… thousands of details. from designing a flyer with two rectangles and a dafont typeface to developing full campaigns, branding identities, strategies and more.

but it was too much, too fast. at 22 i was running recreo, vesarte studio, and producing surf documentaries around the world. it was incompatible with life, and i didn’t have the mental tools to process it all. leaving recreo felt like a decision to save my life and my mental health.

what remains are photographs that are, for our city and our generation, historic. for their scale, their story, and their meaning. all of them captured since day one by our great friend rubén ortega. so many things to do made me think that all my work there is unfinished, i always think i could have done it better so what accompanies this text are just ruben’s photographs and the posters of all the parties i designed.

long life to recreo.