Art Madrid will celebrate its 18th edition from February 22nd to 26th of 2023 at Palacio de Cibeles' Galería de Cristal, a privileged space in which every year the public can appreciate the most current Spanish and international contemporary art. To celebrate this new meeting, Art Madrid returns to the art week scene with the firm intention of maintaining its work as a reference event within the cultural sector committed to becoming a vehicle for approaching new audiences.

Around 35 national and international galleries, carefully selected by Art Madrid's advisory committee, will make up the General Program. The proposals, marked by experimentation and the plurality of aesthetic discourses, turned the Palacio de Cristal into a window open to all artistic disciplines: painting, sculpture, graphic work, photography, video, installation, performance, digital art... Most of these artworks have been made exclusively for the occasion by the more than 160 artists who will meet on this stage in 2023.

Art Madrid turns eighteen, and coming of age becomes a motivation to take a forceful step toward the future. A time in which the fair wants to continue assisting the call of contemporary art. To achieve this goal, the usual programs have translated into platforms that, from within the event, would give voice to emerging creations, open up to new codes of reception and consumption of works of art and propose closer communication strategies to build the image of the outstanding artists of the edition.

The Curated Program returns for the third time led by curator Natalia Alonso Arduengo. The initiative proposes a thematic journey through pieces that dialogue with problems related to the concept of identity and how the contemporary subject sees himself. But, without a doubt, the highlight will be the presentations of three young artists that Art Madrid has selected to support and add value to the artistic and commercial circuit that the fair has cultivated over the years. At the present time, in which the uses of technologies, use of gender, alienation and uncertainty are part of our daily lives, this initiative is proposed as an institutional support for the development of artists who are beginning their professional careers. The program will be formally articulated with a site-specific installation and two performances that will take place during the fair celebration.

The Interviews Program returns to Art Madrid in its second edition. This time it is structured as a section curated by curator and art critic Alfonso de la Torre. These interviews will revolve around a common theme in which the figure of the artist and their practices in the art market will be the subject. That is how the curator proposes a journey through the works of the chosen artists in which he discovers, in greater depth, the visual universe of the ten most outstanding creators of Art Madrid'23. Starting in January, we will enjoy two weekly written interviews on the web and on the rest of the fair's communication channels, where we will see the results in video formats.

One Shot collectors Program returns to the fair with the commitment to continue building bridges to bring the public closer to contemporary art and the promotion of collecting at a national and international level. This initiative aims at professionals in the sector and lovers of contemporary art who are considering to start collecting. Led by Ana Suárez Gisbert, art advisor and appraiser, Art Madrid offers a free advisory service on the acquisition of works of art for the interested public.

During these eighteen years, Art Madrid has distinguished itself for its constant and responsible work with various agents of the national cultural network, the honesty and transparency with its loyal galleries, and the support for new gallery models. Aware of the importance of an event of this nature, Art Madrid proposes a plural edition, adapted to the new artistic languages ​​and committed to society, all practices in which the creative spirit of its organization is recognized.

List of confirmed galleries for Art Madrid'23

Nationals: BAT Alberto Cornejo (Madrid), Flecha (Madrid), Arma Gallery (Madrid), DDR (Madrid), Marita Segovia (Madrid), Galería Hispánica (Madrid/CDMX), 3 Punts (Barcelona), Inéditad (Barcelona), N2 Galería (Barcelona), Out of Africa Gallery (Sitges/London), Uxval Gochez (Barcelona), Aurora Vigil-Escalera (Gijón), Arancha Osoro (Oviedo), Bea Villamarín (Gijón); Alba Cabrera (Valencia), Shiras Galería (Valencia), Dr. Robot (Valencia), Luisa Pita (Santiago de Compostela), Galería Metro (Santiago de Compostela), MoretArt (A Coruña), Rodrigo Juarranz (Aranda de Duero, Burgos), Espiral (Noja, Cantabria), Kur Art Gallery (San Sebastián, Vasc Country), La Aurora (Murcia), MA Arte Contemporáneo (Mallorca) y Manuel Ojeda (Canary Islands).

Internationals: Galerie LJ (Paris), Galleria Stefano Forni (Bologna), Michael Schmalfuss (Berlin), Yiri Arts (Taiwan), Sâo Mamede (Lisbon), Trema arte contemporânea (Lisbon), ArtLounge (Lisbon), Nuno Sacramento (Ílhavo, Portugal) y Collage Habana (La Habana).

The circle as critical device and the marker as contemporary catalyst

POSCA, the Japanese brand of water-based paint markers, has established itself since the 1980s as a central instrument within contemporary artistic practices associated with urban art, illustration, graphic design, and interdisciplinary experimentation. Its opaque, highly pigmented, fast-drying formula—compatible with surfaces as diverse as paper, wood, metal, glass, and textiles—has enabled a technical expansion that extends beyond the traditional studio, engaging public space, objects, and installation practices alike.

In this context, POSCA operates as more than a working tool; it functions as a material infrastructure for contemporary creation. It is a technical device that enables immediacy of gesture without sacrificing chromatic density or formal precision. Its versatility has contributed to the democratization of languages historically associated with painting, fostering a more horizontal circulation between professional and amateur practices.

This expanded dimension of the medium finds a particularly compelling conceptual framework in The Rolling Collection, a traveling exhibition curated by ADDA Gallery. The project proposes a collective investigation of the circular format, understood not merely as a formal container but as a symbolic structure and a field of spatial tension.

Historically, the circle has operated as a figure of totality, continuity, and return. Within the framework of The Rolling Collection, the circular format shifts away from its classical symbolic charge toward an experimental dimension, becoming a support that challenges the hegemonic rectangular frontality of the Western pictorial tradition. The absence of angles demands a reconsideration of composition, balance, and directional flow.

Rather than functioning as a simple formal constraint, this condition generates a specific economy of visual decisions. The curved edge intensifies the relationship between center and periphery, dissolves internal hierarchies, and activates both centrifugal and centripetal dynamics. The resulting body of work interrogates the very processes through which images are constructed.

Following its 2025 tour through Barcelona, Ibiza, Paris, London, and Tokyo, a selection of the exhibition is presented at Art Madrid, reinforcing its international scope and its adaptability to diverse cultural contexts. The proposal for Art Madrid’26 brings together artists whose practices unfold at the intersection of urban art, contemporary illustration, and hybrid methodologies: Honet, Yu Maeda, Nicolas Villamizar, Fafi, Yoshi, and Cachetejack.

While their visual languages vary—ranging from graphic and narrative approaches to chromatic explorations charged with gestural intensity—the curatorial framework establishes a shared axis: a free, experimental, and distinctly color-driven attitude. In this sense, color functions as a conceptual structure that articulates the works while simultaneously connecting them to the specific materiality of POSCA.

The marker’s inherent chromatic vibrancy engages in dialogue with the formal assertiveness of the circle, generating surfaces in which saturation and contrast take center stage. The tool thus becomes embedded within the exhibition discourse, operating as a coherent extension of the participating artists’ aesthetic vocabularies.

One of the project’s most significant dimensions is the active incorporation of the public. Within the exhibition space—activated by POSCA during Art Madrid’26—visitors will be invited to intervene on circular supports installed on the wall using POSCA markers, thereby symbolically integrating themselves into The Rolling Collection during its presentation in Madrid.

This strategy introduces a relational dimension that destabilizes the notion of the closed artwork. Authorship becomes decentralized, and the exhibition space transforms into a dynamic surface for the accumulation of gestures. From a theoretical standpoint, the project may be understood as aligning with participatory practices that, without compromising formal coherence, open the artistic dispositif to contingency and multiplicity.

The selection of POSCA as the instrument for this collective intervention is deliberate. Its ease of use, line control, and compatibility with multiple surfaces ensure an accessible experience without diminishing the visual potency of the outcome. In this way, the marker operates as a mediator between professional practice and spontaneous experimentation, dissolving technical hierarchies.

The title itself, The Rolling Collection, suggests a collection in motion—unfixed to a single space or definitive configuration. Its itinerant nature, combined with the incorporation of local interventions, transforms the project into an organism in continuous evolution. Within this framework, POSCA positions itself as a material catalyst for a transnational creative community. Long associated with urban scenes and emerging practices, the brand reinforces its identity as an ally of open, experimental, and collaborative processes.

POSCA x The Rolling Collection should not be understood merely as a collaboration between a company and a curatorial initiative; rather, it constitutes a strategic convergence of tool, discourse, and community. The project proposes a reflection on format, the global circulation of contemporary art, and the expansion of authorship, while POSCA provides the technical infrastructure that makes both individual works and collective experience possible.