Art Madrid'25 – LISTEN WITH YOUR EYES. SOUNDS ART IN SPAIN, 1961-2016

Ramón González-Arroyo, L'isla des Neumas, 2007. Sound installation at the Fundación Juan March Museum, Palma. Collection of the artist. Photo: Xisco Bonnín / Fundación Juan March Archive

 

 

The face B of contemporary art is noted with the compilation sample of Sound art of the foundation Juan March (Madrid), this set was already exhibited in the Juan March Foundation Museum of Palma de Mallorca (February 10 - May 21) and In the Museum of Spanish Abstract Art of Cuenca (June 16 - September 18). These artistic practices have been gaining support through exhibitions in museums and monographic exhibitions, as well as their presence in reasoned catalogs and the elaboration of specialized bibliography.

 

The curators, José Iges and José Luis Maire have chosen more than 400 works to articulate this particular discourse. As a blank sheet, sound art up to the 60s had no place in the Spanish artistic panorama and even until the 70s was not found the relevant documentation to catalog it as artistic practice. In this exhibition, they give a nod to the story that has not been resorted to and give it the importance it deserves.

 

 

 

Photo of the exhibition

 

 

The characteristic of such exposure is the homogeneity with which it has been treated. The most common when projecting an exhibition of these characteristics is to isolate each work of the group to endow it with a unitary meaning and not contaminate the acoustic space. That sense of exclusivity and evasion has been shaped in "Listening with the eyes". Here they have preferred that these works share space with those of the permanent collection and have articulated a discourse that not only highlights our auditory sense, but also the visual one. This action gives the static work a certain dynamism that makes its reading can be interpreted with another language.

 

Photo of the exhibition

 

 

They have also taken into account the architectural structure of the spaces, thus integrating works that endow the space with a significant character that only the audiovisual can foster. The view is a very powerful sense and with this sample aims to give voice to what the eye is not accustomed, form a binomial and break the limits of space.


Technological obsolescence and collective memory are very definite themes in the character of the show, this anachronistic challenge, has been articulated in a chronological way, beginning with the pioneer artists of the 60s, vinyls as standard of the Sound Art. There are not only samples In the exhibition of Madrid, have integrated with these pieces files and objects relating to the pieces creating a signed statement of the trajectory of said practice.
 

 

 

Mikel Arce, * .WAV, 2004. Sound installation at the Juan March Foundation Museum, Palma. Collection of the artist. Photo: Xisco Bonnín / Fundación Juan March Archive

 

 


Until the 21 of January you can visit her in the Foundation March, Madrid. An obligatory stop for all those who love the sensory and the eccentric. An appointment with what has never been forgotten and now is being given voice. If you are looking for an alternative to what is stipulated this is your exhibition.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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.