Art Madrid'25 – Mulafest fifth edition in Madrid

 

 

MULAFEST has positioned itself as the festival that starts the summer in the city with a program of activities covering art, music and urban culture with a strong international vocation and proposals that reinvent themselves for this edition: garage, circus, performing arts, urban sports, streetfood and the only beach in Madrid.

 

 

 

 

This year, among the concerts, with DJs and live shows to dance, see, hear and feel, will be the Odesza live, the mixtures keyboard, synthesizers and electronic drums of SBTRKT DJ set, the black electronics of Gramatik, the ambient-house of The Orbital, Troyboi, Sleaford Mods or the renovator of electronic-pop Matthew Herbert DJ.

 

 

 

In the section of art, Misterpiro, Antonyo Marest, Fernando Maselli, Kaufman, Federico Ruiz (CRO), Pepo Rossel (XTR), Valtoron or Nomade Cycles participate this year in the area "Garage Mulafest" linking art and engine and where their works share space with more than 60 motorcycles converted thus in authentic pieces of art. And in this field, the exhibition "10 × 10.Art and Fashion " will be a creative challenge in which ten illustrators has been set in front of a fashion design to customize it. Creative couples are: Ricardo Cavolo and Maya Hansen, Maria Herreros and Ion Fiz, Yes and Juana Martín, Carmen Garcia Huerta and Ulises Merida, Coté Escrivá and Teresa Helbig, Coco Davez and Alianto, Sanz i Vila and Juan Vidal, Rubenimichi and John Duyos, Antonyo Marest and Mané Mané to end Bnomio and Xavi Reyes.

 

 

 

 

On Sunday June 26, the festival puts the finishing touch with a real Holi Rang Party & Jam brought directly from India. The most colorful festival of the Asian country will break in Madrid to the tune of DJ music and DJ Sumit Sethi Clement, who transported those present in a direct trip to Asia. Dance and colorful and exotic musical numbers, internationally known thanks to the spread achieved by Bollywood cinema will also be present at this year's festival.

 

 

 

For the lovers of boards, MULAFEST retrieves the Plaza de Colón, traditional meeting point of the skaters of the city and the venue for the CLN Legends (Legends Columbus) with an exhibition in the purest "old-school skaters".

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.