At the gaudy beach nightclubs of Spain’s east coast, the party is over.
Photographer: Francois ProstThe Empty Spanish Resorts of Covid Summer
In his photo series “Discoteca,” photographer Francois Prost captures eerie scenes from Spain’s beach towns, built for crowds of tourists that the pandemic kept away.
In another ten years, the Spanish bars, clubs and strip joints featured in French photographer Francois Prost’s new photo series “Discoteca” may no longer exist. Located on the intensely developed tourist beaches of the country’s east coast, these nightspots saw their regular crowds evaporated by the coronavirus pandemic this summer and fall. But, as Prost’s images reveal, their faded splendor does not suggest a bright future after the virus recedes.
Prost captured the empty nightspots during a drive from Alicante to the French border this autumn. In a normal year these venues would have been packed all summer — and still open for the season’s last gasp — filled with visitors attracted to a coast famous in Europe for its ribbon of concrete hotels and endless opportunities for cheap partying.