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ARQUITECTURAS IMAGINADAS. PARALLEL PROGRAM TERRITORY CITY. ART MADRID'25

Art Madrid celebrates its twentieth anniversary in 2025 as a well-established event within contemporary art in Spain. From March 5 to 9, the Galeria de cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles will once again bring together national and international galleries during Madrid Art Week.

In its 20th edition, the fair presents a Gallery Program featuring thirty-four national and international exhibitors, around two hundred artists, and an extensive Parallel Program focused on the conceptual axis: Territory City.

Public space, the city, and the territory will be the central themes explored by industry specialists, analyzing the impact of artistic practices on the urban environment. Sensory experience will play a key role in investigating the connections between art, territory, and the city as a social agora. The Parallel Program activities will engage with artistic practices emerging from shifting identities and spatial imaginaries that revitalize Madrid’s cultural geography—conceived as a permeable organism and a topography of shared meanings.

The Parallel Program offers tours through artistically intervened spaces, inviting reflection on the ever-changing identities of the urban fabric. Performances and exhibitions will revitalize spatial imaginaries and raise essential questions: What does it mean to inhabit a space? How do we reimagine common spaces?

This year, part of the Parallel Program is curated in collaboration with CRU. Among the actions spread across the territorial landscape of Madrid, we present to you: ARQUITECTURAS IMAGINADAS.

Ana Matey, Dómix Garrido, Araceli López y Andrés Montes have been invited to intervene in various stations of two of the busiest subway lines in Madrid, with the aim of transforming these subway spaces through different aesthetic languages. The main challenge will be to develop projects that connect in a meaningful way with travelers, turning these stations into inspiring places full of beauty.

This program highlights how art has the power to sensitize and change our perception of our surroundings. The proposal not only seeks to enrich the experience of those who use public transport, but also to promote a reflection on the importance of public space. In particular, the Madrid Metro is presented as a key space for urban mobility and social interaction, and this project aims to foster a greater appreciation for it without falling into a paternalistic approach, but through an educational proposal that invites collective reflection.

Ana Matey. Arquitecturas Imaginadas. Art Madrid'25.

ANA MATEY

¿Puede el arte dar respuestas?

Location: LINE 1 (route between CUATRO CAMINOS and PACIFICO) and LINE 2 (route between CUATRO CAMINOS TO VENTAS). Metro Madrid.

Time: 10:00-12:00h

¿Puede el arte dar respuestas? is a durational and intermittent action initiated in 2021. Each year, Ana Matey presents a new performance whose objective is to collect questions, becoming an archive and memory of an era. Throughout this process, each intervention becomes a call for participation, adding up to four actions, with durations ranging from 51 days to 4 hours.

The new proposal consists of reading the 929 questions collected so far in the carriages of lines 1 and 2 of the Madrid Metro, inviting passengers to be part of the action by formulating their own questions. In addition, during that day and throughout the art week, the public will have the opportunity to participate by sending their questions to the e-mail address accionmetanoia@gmail.com. Through this action, we seek to generate a space for collective reflection, where art becomes a means to question and, perhaps, find answers to the big questions of our society.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Ana Matey Marañón is an artist from Madrid whose work moves between the visual arts and performance. She studied audiovisual communication, image, photography and Butoh dance. Her professional career began in 2001, and since 2006 she has been deeply involved in live action art, as well as in the field of dynamisation, research and training. Co-founder of the collective El Carromato (2006-2010), a multidisciplinary space in Madrid where ARTóN (2009-2014), a monthly meeting dedicated to the practice, promotion, research and documentation of action art, is born. In 2012 she co-founded EXCHANGE Live Art, a collective research and creation project, and MATSUcreación, a home workshop and meeting place between art and nature through laboratories and different activities (currently on hiatus). Her work is nourished by walking, collecting and moving. She is interested in processes and experimentation through repetitive and prolonged actions in which she exercises observation, transformation and patience to reflect on how time and space affect us in the way we relate to each other. She has participated in action art festivals around the world and her work has been exhibited in museums, galleries, theatres and alternative spaces both nationally and internationally and has been recognised with various awards and grants.

Dómix Garrido. Arquitecturas Imaginadas. Art Madrid'25.

DÓMIX GARRIDO

Reflexión en un vagón de metror

Location: LÍNEA 1 (route between CUATRO CAMINOS and PACÍFICO) and LÍNEA 2 (route between CUATRO CAMINOS A VENTAS)

Time: 10:00-12:00h

Reflection in a Subway Car is a proposal that delves into the realm of public introspection. It is a performative reflection spoken aloud about contemporary art, with a particular focus on events related to its exhibition, dissemination, and commercialization. In this work, the artist carries out a direct reflection on the process they experience as a creator, from the moment they receive the invitation to participate in an event to the precise instant when they present the performance.

The main objective of this proposal is to share the artist’s reflections with the people sharing the subway ride. Through this action, the internal process an artist goes through when preparing an intervention is brought to light. By not inviting the audience beforehand, the notion of a predisposed audience fades away, and the people present at that moment become ordinary citizens, involuntary spectators of an artistic event. The reactions of the public can be varied and are an integral part of the proposal, which seeks to establish communication—whether direct or indirect—with people in the surrounding environment. This displacement, which the artist has infiltrated with their intervention, has no fixed destination and leads nowhere in particular. The people traveling, absorbed in their thoughts and daily activities, are transformed into involuntary observers of a work of art.

The artist will likely enter the subway car with a recorder or mobile phone in hand. They begin a reflection or conversation aloud, possibly carrying a notebook or some object to read the text. During the performance, the artist interacts with those who show interest or ask questions. Once the intervention ends, they exit the car, carrying in their mind a series of words related to the proposal: “Art Madrid. Performance. Imagined Architectures. City Territory. Action Art. Reflections...”

This process aims not only to generate an artistic reflection in the public but also to raise a question about art itself, its relationship with public space, and the interaction between the creator and the spectator.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Dómix Garrido Abenza (Archena, Murcia, 1963) is a performer, scenic researcher, educator, and cultural manager, holding a degree in Performing Arts and specializing in Museology and Contemporary Art. Since 2004, his work as a performance artist has taken him across Spain, participating in festivals, museums, and art centers. Internationally, his work has been presented in cities in France, Portugal, Italy, Belgium, Greece, Morocco, Norway, Colombia, and the United States, among others.

In 2020, Dómix published the book "Creative Freedom in My Actions: On the Art of Performance." He is a member of 1668, a collective that has been developing artistic projects advocating for human rights since 2014, with a particular focus on migration and borders.

His work has been recognized in various biennials, including the Bronx Latin American Art Biennial (New York) and the International PERFOARTNET Art Biennials in Bogotá. He has received scholarships from the EEA Grants from the Norwegian Embassy and the Research for Art and Social Improvement Projects Grant from the CEPAIM Foundation, in addition to being selected for several international calls. He was also chosen by the Program for the Promotion of Contemporary Spanish Art and recently by the Community of Madrid for the RED ITINER exhibition “1,2... acción!” of Exchange Live Art.

Since 2009, he has directed the International Performance Festival ABIERTO DE ACCIÓN in various Spanish cities, as well as the Solo_Performance cycle at the Centro Párraga in Murcia, the Miradas de Mujeres Festival at the MURAM in Cartagena, and has coordinated public space interventions with institutions like ARTJAEN, KREÆ, and other public and private entities. Furthermore, he has taught workshops on performance and poetic action. In 2018, his project was selected as one of the “Best Valued by the Ministry of Education and Culture.”

Araceli López. Arquitecturas Imaginadas. Art Madrid'25.

ARACELI LÓPEZ

Entre ser y estar hemos construido un muro

Location: LÍNEA 1 (route between CUATRO CAMINOS and PACÍFICO)

Time: 18:00 - 20:00h

Entre ser y estar hemos construido un muro is an action that analyzes how, in each generation, the boundaries between the individual and the collective are altered, transformed, and redrawn according to the circumstances. Between these two poles, contradiction becomes our constant companion. We are beings capable of distancing ourselves from ourselves, of getting lost in the space between what we are and what we show the world.

The performative action stands as the bridge that crosses this contradiction, a space where opposites are not antagonistic but elements that coexist and feed into each other. The action seeks to unify being and being, merging these two dimensions into an experience that goes beyond the verbal and the tangible.

The Spanish language, with its distinction between ‘ser’ and ‘estar,’ turns this duality into a powerful tool for exploring human nature. The ‘ser,’ intangible, elusive, unreachable, cannot be defined with precision. It is something that transcends the limits of words, something that resists being trapped in a fixed concept. Being is the truth that is never fully grasped; it is the ungraspable that dwells deep within our being.

On the other hand, ‘estar’ is something more tangible, a state that can be located in time and space. ‘Estar’ is presence, action, rest; it is what we see, what manifests in an instant. It is a continuous dialogue with the environment, the language shared by a culture, by a generation. ‘Estar’ is the visible, the present, what can be touched and understood within its limits.

The performative action seeks to unravel and make visible that dissociation, turning it into a palpable space. In this realm, ‘estar’ becomes a stage, the space where ‘ser’ can manifest freely, without the limits of what can be named, labeled, or immediately understood. In this space, what is seen is not a faithful representation of what we are, but a distorted reflection, a personal interpretation of being through the eyes of the other.

The performative act, by staging this contradiction, invites the spectator to inhabit that ambiguity and question the borders between what is and what is, between what we are and what we show.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Araceli López is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and cultural manager born in Madrid, with a background in audiovisual language and contemporary dance. She began her studies in Pre-Press and continued with Communication Technologies, specializing in the Expert Degree in 3D Studio Max. She has trained in contemporary dance at schools in Madrid such as Descalzinha Danza, Amor de Dios, and Bambú Danza. Her work explores the understanding and deconstruction of reality, reinterpreting it through various expressive languages. She seeks to combine these languages to foster communication and synergies between them. Focused on the coding, conversion, and translation of ideas, her main approach is to transfer concepts from one language to another. As expressive media, she uses the body, words, drawing, painting, and audiovisual language.

She has collaborated in various radio programs, collectives, festivals, and artistic projects such as the James Joyce Lacanian Circle, CRUCE Contemporary Art and Thought, Ésta es una PLAZA!, PEPA Performance, PROYECTOR/Plataforma de Videoart, OMCRadio, and the radio station of the National University of Colombia (UNIMEDIOS), contributing dance-performance pieces, visual art, poetry, photography, and audiovisual works, as well as serving as a coordinator and part of the curatorial team. After writing for several blogs, she published the poetry collections Mirar o parecido (2018) and El agua y el cuello – Poesía de emergencia (2022). In 2023, she was included in the book El Escorial: Antología Lírica desde el siglo XVI al año 2023. She is a co-founder and active member of the artistic collectives CONJUNTAS P-r-y-c-t-s, alongside Denisse Nadeau, and LAC, a group dedicated to interdisciplinary improvisation formed in 2020, along with artists such as Wade Mathews, Blanca Regina, Mario G. Cru, Gary Hill, and Proyecto Chilco.

Andrés Montes. Arquitecturas Imaginadas. Art Madrid'25.

ANDRÉS MONTES

En tránsito

Location: LÍNEA 2 (route between CUATRO CAMINOS and VENTAS)

Time: 18:00 - 20:00h

In Transit

is a travelling narrative device,

It is an archive of memory,

it is an action as a gaze,

It is a question.

The action consists of taking people's stories for a walk in the subway through loudspeakers.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

"I am a visual artist and I like words. In Berlin I realised that there was something mysterious hidden in the newspapers. I remember the Libertad neighbourhood in Tijuana at night (it was cold). I also walked along the Bay of Biscay for 17 days. And another time I walked from El Limón to Guamúchil (that was much earlier). My name is Andrés Montes and I am one of those people who believe that we are the story we tell ourselves, ergo we are fiction. I play with land. I have a son. It's five in the morning".

Contemporary art has ceased to be an exclusive territory reserved for elites and has become an increasingly democratic and accessible space. In the context of fairs such as Art Madrid, which in 2026 brings together more than 200 artists from five continents, a new generation of collectors is emerging—one that challenges the traditional codes of the art market. But how do you make the leap from admirer to collector? What do you need to know before acquiring your first artwork?

The image of the art collector has historically been associated with great fortunes, multimillion-euro auctions, and inaccessible masterpieces. However, this perception is changing radically. Today’s contemporary art market offers a wide range of proposals that suit virtually any budget, from works by emerging artists to limited editions by established creators. .

At Art Madrid, for example, galleries presenting young talents coexist with those representing artists with consolidated careers. This diversity allows first-time buyers to find meaningful works without needing unlimited capital. What matters is not how much you invest, but why you do it, and how that piece resonates with your life, your space, and your concerns.

Experience in the art world shows that a collection is not defined by the monetary value of the works it contains, but by the coherence and strength of the narrative they build together. Understanding this frees emerging collectors from the pressure to succeed according to investment logic and encourages them to rely on their own aesthetic judgment and the emotional connection they establish with the works.

HOW TO START A COLLECTION

Define Your Orientation: Passion vs. Investment

Before acquiring your first work, it is essential to ask yourself what you are looking for in collecting. There are two main approaches which, although they can coexist, lead down different paths:

Collecting driven by passion is guided by emotional connection, aesthetic pleasure, and the desire to live surrounded by works that speak to you. This approach is more intuitive and personal and, paradoxically, often proves to be more successful economically in the long term because it is rooted in genuine conviction.

Collecting as an investment requires more technical knowledge of the market, monitoring trends, understanding artists’ and galleries’ trajectories, and having a strategic vision. Although art has proven to be an interesting alternative investment—especially in times of economic uncertainty—it requires patience and a tolerance for risk.

Most successful collectors combine both dimensions: they buy what moves them, while also developing a critical eye to identify works with potential for appreciation. The key is not to be driven solely by market opportunism, because art that does not move you is unlikely to hold your interest when trends change.

EDUCATE YOURSELF BEFORE BUYING

Knowledge is your best tool. Before acquiring works, take time to:

Visit exhibitions regularly. Not only in commercial galleries, but also in museums, independent spaces, and art centers. This will help you develop your own aesthetic criteria and understand which proposals truly resonate with you.

Research artists. Read about their careers, influences, and creative processes. In the digital age, most artists are present on social media, where they share daily work, sketches, and reflections. This transparency makes it easier to connect more deeply with their practice.

Understand the market. Observe prices in different galleries, learn what factors influence valuation (artist’s career, technique, dimensions, limited edition versus unique piece), and become familiar with how galleries and fairs operate.

Talk to gallerists. Gallerists are essential allies. Their job is not only to sell, but to educate, connect, and build long-term relationships. A good gallerist will guide you toward works that match your interests and accompany you in the development of your collection.

EVALUATING A WORK: BEYOND “I LIKE IT”

When a work captures your attention, it is important to go beyond the initial emotional impression and ask yourself some key questions:

Coherence in the Artist’s Trajectory

Is this work part of a sustained line of research, or is it an isolated experiment? Artists with coherent proposals over time tend to have greater projection. Look for a logical evolution in their work, participation in relevant exhibitions, awards or grants, and representation by established galleries.

This does not mean you should reject the work of very young or highly experimental artists. On the contrary, some of the greatest successes in collecting come from early support of emerging talents. However, such a bet should be based on informed intuition, not mere novelty.

Technical and Conceptual Quality

Contemporary art has greatly expanded the boundaries of what we consider “technique,” incorporating everything from installation to digital art. Nevertheless, each discipline has its own standards of excellence. A painting should demonstrate mastery of color, composition, and material; a sculpture, an understanding of space and materials; a photograph, control of light and framing; a conceptual work, rigor in the development of the idea.

Beyond technique, ask yourself: What is this work saying? Does it offer an original perspective on something that interests me? Is there conceptual depth, or is it purely decorative? There are no absolute right answers, but asking these questions will help you make more conscious decisions.

Suitability for the Space

A practical but fundamental consideration: where will this work live? Art needs room to breathe, appropriate light, and a context that enhances it. A monumental work can feel overwhelming in a small apartment, while an intimate piece may get lost in a large space. Many galleries offer virtual visualization services or even temporary loans so you can experience the work in your space before committing.

Practical Aspects of Collecting

When you acquire a work, you should receive:

Certificate of authenticity: A document signed by the artist or gallery that certifies the authorship of the piece, its dimensions, technique, year of creation, and, in the case of editions, its number within the edition.

Invoice: Legally required and essential for proving ownership and purchase value, particularly relevant for insurance and potential resale.

Conservation information: Each technique and material requires specific care. Ask how the work should be preserved (light, humidity, temperature conditions) and whether it needs periodic maintenance.

Insurance and Protection: Even if your collection is just beginning, it is advisable to take out specific insurance for artworks. Most home insurance policies do not adequately cover this type of asset. There are specialized policies that protect against theft, accidental damage, fire, and other risks, with reasonable premiums for modest collections.

In addition to insurance, consider basic conservation measures: avoid hanging works in areas with excessive humidity, direct sunlight, or sudden temperature changes. For works on paper (photographs, prints, drawings), framing with UV-protective glass and acid-free matting is essential.

Legal and Tax Advice

In Spain, artworks have a specific tax treatment. The applicable VAT rate is 21%, although there are exemptions in certain cases. If your collection grows and you eventually decide to sell pieces, you will need to consider the tax implications of capital gains. For larger collections, it can be useful to consult advisors specialized in artistic heritage, who can guide you on tax benefits (donations to museums, long-term loans), inheritance planning, and asset protection structures.

Building Relationships Within the Art Ecosystem

Collecting is not a solitary activity, but a deeply social one. Some tips for integrating into the community:

Attend openings and events. Exhibition openings are opportunities to meet artists, other collectors, critics, and curators. Don’t be afraid to ask questions or express genuine interest.

Join collectors’ associations. Many cities have organized groups that arrange studio visits, talks with experts, and trips to international fairs. These spaces facilitate learning and networking.

Be loyal to your galleries. If a gallery has advised you well and you feel comfortable with its program, maintain the relationship long-term. Gallerists tend to reserve the best pieces or opportunities for their regular collectors.

Value Beyond Price

Finally, it is important to remember that the true value of collecting goes beyond economics. Living with art transforms everyday spaces into places of reflection and beauty. A work on your wall is a daily reminder of an emotion, an idea, a vision of the world that once moved you enough to want to live with it.

Collecting is also a way of actively participating in the cultural ecosystem. When you buy the work of an emerging artist, you help them continue creating. When you support an independent gallery, you help sustain spaces of experimentation. When you lend your works for an exhibition or eventually donate them to a public institution, you contribute to the collective heritage

At fairs like Art Madrid, where proposals from different generations, geographies, and artistic languages coexist, you have the opportunity to explore, compare, and discover. There is no rush. Collecting is a long-term journey in which each acquisition is a chapter in a personal story you are building. The key is to begin with curiosity, humility, and the certainty that art, more than a luxury, is a necessity that profoundly enriches life.