We have everything ready to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Art Madrid! The most festive and dynamic edition is ready to open its doors and celebrate contemporary art in style. Painting, photography, sculpture, video art, performance and artistic meetings make up the most extensive and varied programme of Art Madrid to date.

In this edition, Art Madrid is defined by its open and immersive character. An event full of movement where besides enjoying a wide program of exhibitors with an outstanding international perspective we will have an intensive program dedicated to new media, action art and performance thanks to the collaboration with the video art platform PROYECTOR and under the curatorship of its director, Mario Gutiérrez Cru.

Mario Soria

Mind genius, 2019

Óleo sobre madera y juguetes de plástico

98 x 27cm

Jorg Karg

Surrender, 2017

Printing by pigment under acrylic glass on aluminum dibond

80 x 80cm

This year Art Madrid has incorporated new national and international galleries. With a marked global commitment, Art Madrid counts for the first time with the Parisian Galerie LJ and the Italian Galleria Stefano Forni in Bologna. The German presence also stands out with the incorporation of Urban Spree (Berlin) and Luisa Catucci Gallery (Berlin) and the special Austrian participation of Offspace | galerie panoptikum (Gilgenberg). From the other side of the ocean lands the Ecuadorian gallery Más ARTE Galería (Quito). In the national participation, important exhibitors such as N2 and Pigment Gallery from Barcelona, as well as es.Arte Gallery, from Malaga, representing the south of the peninsula, will make their debut.

Art Madrid continues its commitment to national galleries that have already shown great weight at the fair and that could not be missed with their new proposals for this 15th edition: Madrid's Galería Kreisler, Marita Segovia, Soraya Cartategui, Galería BAT Alberto Cornejo and Galería Hispánica Contemporánea. From Asturias, Aurora Vigil-Escalera (Gijón), Bea Villamarín (Gijón) and Arancha Osoro (Oviedo). Luisa Pita (Santiago de Compostela) and Moret Art (A Coruña) in Galicia and Espiral Gallery (Noja, Cantabria) in the north of Spain, Kurt Art Gallery (Guipúzcoa) and Rodrigo Juarranz (Aranda de Duero, Burgos). From Barcelona 3 Punts, Miquel Alzueta, Víctor Lope Arte Contemporáneo and Zielinsky, as well as from Valencia the new proposals of Alba Cabrera Gallery and Shiras Galería.

Mari Quiñonero

No.130, 2018

Pastel sobre papel

60 x 42cm

Onay Rosquet

Tuesday, 2018

Oil on canvas

80 x 80cm

The Portuguese galleries Art Lounge (Lisbon), Paulo Nunes-Arte Contemporânea (Vila Franca de Xira), Galeria São Mamede (Lisbon/Oporto) and Nuno Sacramento (Ílhavo) stand out in the representation of foreign galleries renewing their participation in Art Madrid. From Germany he returns to Schmalfuss (Berlin) and the French Galerie Norty (Carrières-sur-Seine). And the Taiwanese Yiri Arts (Taipei) and the Cuban Collage Habana (Havana) could not miss this 15th anniversary celebration.

In such a special edition, Art Madrid has decided to redefine and expand the curatorial program One Project to transform it into a place of friction and artistic stimulus. Under the title "Salvajes. La cage aux fauves" and under the curatorship of Fernando Gómez de la Cuesta, One Project will consist of the work of 9 artists who work on contemporary creation from different perspectives, presenting new and specific projects for the fair. One Project will be formed by ATC Gallery from Santa Cruz de Tenerife representing Nicolás Laiz and Alona Harpaz; Kaplan Projects from Palma, with the artists Juan Carlos Batista and Santiago Palenzuela; MA Arte Contemporáneo also from Palma, with the work of Andrés Planas, and Plastic Murs from Valencia, with the work of Pichiavo and Julio Anaya and DDR Art Gallery from Madrid, on this occasion with the new sculpture by Roberto López and the painting by Virginia Rivas.

Juan Carlos Batista

Psicopaisaje II, 2015

Impresión digital en papel de algodón

60 x 77cm

PichiAvo

Bristol Poseidon, 2019

Mixed media on canvas

120 x 160cm

As the curator explains, the programme activates "research on the market and fairs as institutions that legitimise professional careers in the art world, but also on fashions, trends and mainstreams, focusing on those resilient artists who choose to travel along paths far removed from them". A space for the most risky and latest artistic proposals.

Another of the great novelties of this edition is the specific programme dedicated to video art and action art. Together with the video art platform PROYECTOR and with the curatorship of Mario Gutiérrez Cru, at the beginning of each day of the fair the public will be able to enjoy the best selection of video art pieces from the most outstanding international festivals around the world to continue with a direct immersion in art through the presentations and meetings with an artist every afternoon at 5pm. Abelardo Gil-Fournier, Fernando Baena, Mario Santamaría and Maia Navas will be the protagonists of this space.

And the best is always at the end, offering the audience a unique and unforgettable experience: attending live audiovisual performances by internationally renowned artists. Iván Puñal, Eunice Artur with Bruno Gonçalves, Arturo Moya with Ruth Abellán and Olga Diego will look for an intimate and personal connection with the audience at 8pm inside the Crystal Gallery of the Palacio de Cibeles.

In addition, visitors to Art Madrid'20 will be able to see the work of artists Juan Díaz-Faes and Buba Viedma at the stand set up by Yorokobu, which will bring a wide historical selection of the magazine's covers on the occasion of its 10th anniversary.

They will also be able to take a break and enjoy a cocktail thanks to Royal Bliss and its wide range of mixers where there will also be live actions with the participation of five artists who will perform their own version of the painting "The Red Dog" by Gauguin.

And in such a special celebration, the collaboration of Liquitex could not be missed, which will award a prize in materials valued at 1,500 euros to one of the participating artists of Art Madrid who uses acrylic painting as the main medium in their creations. The winner will be decided between the organisation of Liquitex and Art Madrid and on Sunday 1st March there will be a ceremony at the fair to award the prize.

Ultimately, Art Madrid'20 is celebrating its fifteenth year of existence with its most dynamic and moving edition. This is an excellent opportunity to get into the current creation scene, with a wide and varied proposal that highlights its permanent commitment to young creators and the most current forms of creation.

The work of Julian Manzelli (Chu) (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1974) is situated within a field of research in which art adopts methodologies close to scientific thinking without renouncing its poetic and speculative dimension. His practice is structured as an open process of experimentation, in which the studio functions as a laboratory: a space for trial, error, and verification, oriented less toward the attainment of certainties than toward the production of new forms of perception. In this sense, his work enters into dialogue with an epistemology of uncertainty, akin to philosophical traditions that understand knowledge as a process of becoming rather than closure.

Manzelli explores interstitial zones, understood as spaces of transit and transformation. These ambiguous areas are not presented as undefined but as potential—sites where categories dissolve, allowing the emergence of hybrid, almost alchemical configurations that reprogram the gaze. Geometry, far from operating as a normative system, appears tense and destabilized. His precarious constructions articulate a crossing between intuition and reason, play and engineering, evoking a universal grammar present in both nature and symbolic thought. Thus, Manzelli’s works do not represent the world but rather transfigure it, activating questions rather than offering closed answers.

Avícola. Escultura magnética. Madera, imanes, laca automotriz y acero. 45 x 25 cm. 2022.

Science and its methods inspire your process. What kinds of parallels do you find between scientific thinking and artistic creation?

Science and art are two disciplines that I believe share a great deal and are undoubtedly deeply interconnected. I am interested in that point of intersection, and although they are often placed in opposition, I think they share a common origin. Both involve a continuous search, a need for answers that stems from curiosity rather than certainty, and that often—or in many cases—leads both artists and scientists into uncomfortable, uncertain positions, pushing them out of their comfort zones. I believe this is a fundamental and very compelling aspect shared by these two disciplines, which in some way define us as human beings.

In this sense, both share experimentation as a core axis of their practice. Trial and error, testing, and the entire process of experimentation are what generate development. In my case, this applies directly to the studio: I experience it as a laboratory where different projects are developed and materials are tested. It is as if one formulates a hypothesis and then puts it to the test—materials, procedures, forms, colors—and outcomes emerge. These results are not meant to be verified, but rather, in art, I believe their function is to generate new modes of perception, new ways of seeing, and new experiences.

Receptor Lunar #01. Ensamble de Madera Reciclada torneada. 102 x 26 x 26 cm. De la serie Fuerza orgánica. 2023.

You work within the interstices between the natural and the artificial, the figurative and the abstract. What interests you about these ambiguous zones, and what kinds of knowledge emerge from them?

I have always been quite restless, and that has led me to immerse myself in different fields and disciplines. I believe there is a special richness in interstitial spaces—in movement back and forth, in circulation between media. These spaces have always drawn my attention: ambiguous places, hybrid zones. There is something of an amphibious logic here—amphibians as entities that carry and transmit information, that share, that cross boundaries and membranes. In my case, this is closely linked to what I understand as freedom, especially at a time marked by categorization, labeling, and a profound distortion of the very concept of freedom.

On another level, more metaphysical in nature, it is within the mixture—within that blending—that the living energy of creating something new appears, which is undoubtedly a fundamental aspect of what it means to be human. It is as if “one thing becomes something else outside the mold.” This interaction is necessary to break structures, to build new ones, to transmute—to undergo something almost alchemical. I believe fixation is the enemy. In a way, ambiguity is what allows us to reprogram our gaze and generate new points of view.

De la serie Naturaleza orgánica. Madera torneada recuperada de podas de sequía y rezagos de construcción. 2025.

Movement, repetition, and sequence appear as visual strategies in your work. What role does seriality play in the generation of meaning?

Movement, repetition, and sequence are very present in my work. I have a long background in animation, and in some way that interest begins to filter into the other disciplines in which I work. Thus, movement also appears in my visual art practice.

Seriality is a way of thinking about time and of introducing a certain narrative and sense of action into the work, while at the same time conditioning the viewer’s experience. It invites the viewer to try to decipher repetition as a kind of progression. I am particularly interested in more abstract forms of narrative. In this type of narrative, where there is no clear figuration, repetition begins to establish a pulse, a “beat” that marks the passage of time. What is interesting, I think, is the realization that repetition is not exactly duplication, and that what seems identical begins to mutate over time, through rhythm, or through its own unfolding history.

De la serie Naturaleza orgánica. Madera torneada recuperada de podas de sequía y rezagos de construcción. 2025.

You work with geometric and constructive systems. What role does geometry play as a symbolic language within your practice?

Geometry is present in my work in multiple forms and dimensions, generating different dynamics. Generally, I tend to put it into crisis, into tension. When one engages closely with my works, it becomes clear that constructions based on imprecise and unstable balance predominate. I am not interested in symmetry or exactness, but rather in a dynamic construction that proposes a situation. I do not conceive of geometry as a rigid system.

I believe this is where a bridge is established between the intuitive and the rational, between playfulness and engineering—those unexpected crossings. At the same time, geometry functions as a code, a language that connects us to a universal grammar present in nature, in fractals, and that undoubtedly refers to symbolism. It is there that an interesting portal opens, where the work begins to re-signify itself and becomes a process of meaning-making external to itself, entirely uncertain. The results of my works are not pieces that represent; rather, I believe they are pieces that transfigure and, in doing so, generate questions.

WIP. Madera torneada recuperada de podas de sequía y rezagos de contrucción. 2022.

To what extent do you plan your works, and how much space do you leave for the unexpected—or even for error?

In terms of planning, it depends greatly on the project and even on the day. Some projects, due to their scale or complexity, require careful planning, especially when they involve the participation of other people. In many cases, planning is undoubtedly essential.

That said, in the projects I do plan, I am always interested in leaving space for improvisation, where chance or the unfolding of the process itself can come into play. I believe this is where interesting things begin to emerge, and it is important not to let them pass by. Personally, I would find it very boring to work on pieces whose outcome I already know in advance. For me, the realization of each work is an uncertain journey; I do not know where it will lead, and I believe that is where its potential lies—not only for me, but also for the work itself and for the viewer’s experience.