Art Madrid'25 – Swab Emerging Art Fair in Barcelona

Imagen promocional de Swab2015

 

65 galleries, 22 countries, more than 100 emerging artists and new programs and disciplines make the eighth edition of Swab the one which consolidates this cool show in continuous search for new values.

 

 

Swab was born in 2006 as an initiative from the private collection Diezy7 Space Art in Barcelona. The art fair holds its 8th edition from 1 to 4 October at the Italian Pavilion of the Fira de Barcelona, ??and has become an annual event of international emerging art, well received by the public and critics. This response is what has encouraged the organization to create new programs in this edition.

 

Obra de Judas Arrieta en SWAB.

 

The General Program 2015 brings together a large number of established galleries and highly regarded in the global market of contemporary art galleries. It also provides an opportunity for a number of newly created galleries to participate in an international art fair.

 

Swab Seed, program curated by David Armengol, sets out a series of separate proposals that have made their way outside the institutions in cities such as Barcelona, ??Madrid and Berlin. The project has a dual registration. On the one hand, it is a physical space of collective presentation of separate spaces (working methods, artists, linked, specific projects), among which are El Palomar (Barcelona), Arts Coming (Barcelona), Me & the curiosity (Barcelona) , La Encantada Gallery (Barcelona), Halfhouse (Barcelona), The Green Parrot (Barcelona), Salón (Madrid) and Junefirst (Berlin). On the other hand, it presents a program of public lectures and round tables entitled Intensity and Survival: artistic practice from the independent. The structure of the talks raises an individual presentation of each of the spaces and a later debate in which they analyzed conditions, needs and common problems.

 


Imagen de SWAB Performance.

 

Swab Performance, curated by Juan Canela, shows specific actions and interventions related with the body, the time, space and action. With the participation of Mercedes Azpilicueta, Elena Bajo, Ely Daou, Alicia Frankovich, Lara Khaldi & Yazan Khalili, and Claudia Pages.


Swab Forum, in collaboration with De Appel Arts Centre (Amsterdam), presents a new program through which two former alumni of the Curatorial Programme of the Dutch center have selected different artists thet will dialogue with each other and work programs of the different galleries.


Swab Thinks is a space for reflection on emerging art with lectures, panel discussions, dialogues among collectors, to think together the transformations of the contemporary.


 


Imagen de SOLO Swab.

 

In SOLO Swab, curated by Direlia Lazo and Carolina Ariza, individual projects of Latin American artists are presented, with emphasis on the procedural practices and creative documentaries confronted with the official story. There are new programs as Swab 'Zh?ngguó: China's new photography' and Swab Drawing Applications, curated by Monica Alvarez Careaga. A bunch of eight individual artistic projects that show the transformation in the use of traditional drawing forms. The participating artists are Paula Rubio Infante, Laura González Cabrera, Cristina Ferrandez, Luis Macias, Juan Escudero, Theo Firmo, Gómez-Bueno and Gonzalo Elvira.

 

Imagen de Swab ‘Zh?ngguó: la nueva fotografía china’ 

 

 

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.