Art Madrid'25 – Alfonso de la Torre, new member of the Selection Committee AM16

 

 

Since its last edition, the fair has an independent committee of art professionals in charge of the analysis and evaluation of the proposals submitted by the applicants galleries.

 

The Selection Committee includes experts from the world of gallerism, curating, art collecting and art fairs consulting, and now from the criticism and theory of contemporary art, with the aim of shaping the General Programme of the fair to make it more complete, open, diverse and international.

 

In Art Madrid’16, the committee is made up by the specialist on international art market Angel Samblancat; the gallery owners Javier Lopez Velez (3 Punts Gallery, Barcelona) and Ricardo da Cruz Tenreiro (Art Lounge, Lisbon); the independent curator Carlos Delgado Mayordomo and the art critic Alfonso de la Torre. The team will meet in late October for viewing portfolios and proposals.

 

In the last edition of the fair, the selection committee reviewed more than a hundred proposals for national and international galleries. This year we expect to exceed that number and make the best possible program

 

ABOUT THE MEMBERS OF THE COMITTEE...

 

 

D. ÁNGEL SAMBLANCAT

Director of Editorial and Polígrafa Graphic&Print Art Gallery (Barcelona) for 40 years and member of the Direction Bureau in Joan Prats Art Gallery Barcelona) since its founding. Jury Member for the Triennial of Graphic Art in Grenchen (Switzerland) and a member of the Selection Committee for International Contemporary Art Fairs as Art Chicago (Illinois), Art Miami (Florida), Art Los Angeles (California), ARCO (Madrid ), Art Cologne Art Basel / Miami Beach (Florida).

 

 

 

D. JAVIER LÓPEZ VÉLEZ

Since 1994, he is the artistic director of 3 Punts Art Gallery, based in Barcelona and Berlin. Expert in Technical Drawing Projects and with studies in Sociology, he has been independent curator in various institutional exhibitions in Barcelona, Hospitalet and Andorra. Under his direction, the gallery organizes seven to eight individual exhibitions per year, with a clear evolution towards new artistic languages and where the work of curating and selecting art-works and artists is impeccable. As a gallery owner, participates in art fairs and events inside and outside our borders for nearly two decades.

 

 

D. RICARDO TENREIRO DA CRUZ.

Director of ArtLounge Art Gallery in Lisbon (Portugal). While he was in London, at an International Business school, he discovered the taste for painting and the power of art as a key factor in the increase of culture of the cities. Since these days, he is usual visitor in galleries and art fairs in order to find new artists that are worth bringing to Portugal. Nowadays, he is member of the Chamber of Commerce of Portugal- Singapore and he develops commercial and artistic

 

 

 

D. CARLOS DELGADO MAYORDOMO

BA in Art History at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid. Coordinator of exhibition projects of the International Fund for the Arts Foundation / FiArt, responsible for exhibitions in Culture Department of the City of Las Rozas (Madrid). Writer in Xtrart, on-line art magazine and professor of Contemporary art and Culture in Aularte. Since 2008, he is freelance curator for museums and institutions in Spain and Latin America. Has developed, among others, Ciria’s exhibition “Rare paintings” (2008), “Agustí Centelles: Case report” (2009), “Synergies. Contemporary Latin American art in Spain”, “Storymakers” (2013), “David Trullo. Fauxtographies” (2013). "Ciria. Las puertas de Uaset" (2014). Curator of the ONE PROJECT program in Art Madrid.

 

 

D. ALFONSO DE LA TORRE

Theoretician and art critic, specialist in contemporary Spanish art. He has curated more than one hundred exhibitions and has published numerous essays and taught at various universities and institutions: MNCARS, Teruel Museum, University of Los Andes, University of Córdoba, University of Granada, University of Castilla-La Mancha and University La Sorbonne. He is the author of the detailed catalogs about “El Paso”, Manolo Millares (MNCARS and Fund. Azcona, 2004) and Manuel Rivera (Diputación de Granada and Fund. Azcona, 2009), and he has recently concluded its catalog about Pablo Palazuelo (MNCARS, MACBA, Palazuelo Foundation Fund. Azcona). Since 2005 he leads an annual program of artistic interventions in public space (“The Field of Cultural-El Corte Inglés”) during the week of ARCO, which has the support of Madrid City Council. Regularly participates in discussion forums ARCO, responsible for the graduates: “Contemporary art and sponsorship” (2012); “The new power of collectors” (2013); “What is art in times of crisis?” (2014) and “In the Collector privacy” (2015). He directed one of the most comprehensive studies on the birth and evolution of the art market in Spain since the war until today “The Spain of the XXI Century” (Foundation System). In 2012 he was invited by the University of the Sorbonne to the International Colloquium “Le travail du visible” (Hermann éditeurs, Paris 2014). He directs the collection “El Ojo que ve” (University of Cordoba-La Fábrica) of photographic essays. He is vice president of the Pilar Citoler Foundation, dealing with the conservation of the collection. The Ministry of Education and Culture appointed him as jury in the National Award of Art (2015).

From July 7 to 9, 2025, the Balsera Palace will host the First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art, an intensive 15-hour program that will explore the complex and fundamental question of taste in contemporary art. Organized by the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities at Nebrija University and the Avilés City Council, in collaboration with 9915 — Association of Private Collectors of Contemporary Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, the course offers a unique opportunity for analysis and debate on the dynamics that shape aesthetic and symbolic value in today’s art scene.


First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art. Avilés, Asturias


The notion of taste, intrinsically tied to aesthetic judgments and power relations, has played a decisive role in the historical prominence of artists and artworks. However, contemporary art—marked by its breaking of conventions, diversity of media and techniques, and critical stance toward traditional canons—raises fundamental questions about the continued relevance of this concept.

This course will explore how the decisions made by key players in the art system—institutions, private collections, galleries, curators, and artists—continually redefine a field of taste shaped by aesthetic, symbolic, cultural, social, and political logics.


"¿But does it exist, and what is the prevailing taste of our time—so seemingly confused, fragmented, indecipherable?" - Omar Calabrese, The Neo-Baroque Era.


The academic program, directed by José Luis Guijarro Alonso, Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University, and Pablo Álvarez de Toledo, Head of the Department of Arts at Nebrija University and the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities, will bring together a distinguished group of national experts—including collectors, critics, curators, gallery owners, and artists—whose contributions will address key issues in shaping aesthetic, symbolic, and market value in today’s art world.


PROGRAM

MONDAY, JULY 7

9:30 AM Registration.

10:00 AM Course Opening Nebrija University Avilés City Council Presented by Rosario López Meras – President of the Association of Contemporary Art Collectors, 9915, and Adrián Piera – President of the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art.

10:30 AM Course Presentation By José Luis Guijarro Alonso – Art Historian and Anthropologist, Researcher, and Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion The Taste of Private Collecting as a Prelude to History. Speakers: Candela Álvarez Soldevilla – Entrepreneur and Collector; Javier Quilis – INELCOM Collection; José Miguel Vegas Valle – Collector. Moderator: Luis Feás – Critic and Curator.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Individual Lecture On Good Taste in Contemporary Art. Speaker: Marisol Salanova – Curator and Art Critic, Director of Arteinformado.

4:45 PM Panel Discussion The Influence of Galleries in Shaping Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Elba Benítez – Gallerist; Ricardo Pernas – Gallerist (Arniches 26); Aurora Vigil-Escalera – Gallerist. Moderator: Rafael Martín – Coleccion@casamer.

6:00 PM End of Day.

6:30 PM Activity and Cocktail Visit to the Exhibition Asturian Artists in the Pérez Simón Collection – Avilés.

TUESDAY, JULY 8

10:00 AM Individual Lecture Contemporary (Bad) Taste: Kitsch, Camp, and Tacky. Speaker: Julio Pérez Manzanares – Autonomous University of Madrid.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion Institutions and the Formation of Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Virginia López – Artist, Founder of PACA_Proyectos Artísticos Casa Antonino; Julieta de Haro – Artistic Director of CentroCentro; Carlos Urroz – Director of Institutional Relations, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Moderator: Laura Gutiérrez – Director, School of Art of Oviedo.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Panel Discussion Beyond the Eye: The Taste for Ethical, Ecological, Social, or Political Concerns in Contemporary Art. Speakers: Semíramis González – Independent Curator; Eugenio Ampudia – Artist; Claudia Rodríguez-Ponga – Independent Curator. Moderator: Bárbara Mur Borrás – PhD in Fine Arts.

5:00 PM End of Day.

5:30 PM Activity Visit to the Studiolo Exhibition – Candela Álvarez Soldevilla Collection.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

9:30 AM Meeting with Asturian Artists Speakers: María Castellanos – Artist; Avelino Sala – Artist; Consuelo Vallina – Artist. Moderator: Pablo Álvarez de Toledo – Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Activity Visit to the Niemeyer Center – Avilés.

Course Closing Ceremony.





This course is designed for art professionals, collectors, researchers, and students seeking an in-depth analysis of the dynamics that shape taste and collecting practices in contemporary art. Adopting a critical and multidisciplinary perspective, it provides a unique opportunity to rigorously examine the aesthetic, symbolic, and structural factors that underpin the legitimization of contemporary art.