Art Madrid'24 – ARTIVISM. THE CLAIM FROM ART

Artivism is defined as the hybridization between art and activism. Claims and resistance art. Visibility, durability and risk are the specific features of an intervention that carries a clear socio-political message. Art becomes a means of communication focused on change and transformation, a language that moves from academic or museum artistic creation to social spaces, becoming an educational tool.

Ángela Lergo

Desde el fondo de un espejo. Narciso, 2019

Piedra con resina y pigmentos naturales, cera y metacrilato

42 x 16cm

Art is an engine that can generate collectivity in individual spaces, and bring resistance to pressure places. Artivism develops a language of freedom and autonomy that moves outside of fixed cultural rules, of academic canons, of aesthetics and the majority tendency. It is an intervention without limits of action, where the conceptual lines of the spaces are blurred.

We could place the origins of artivism in the artistic avant-gardes of the 20th century: dadaism, futurism and surrealism. The development of performance, video art or conceptual art throughout the last century are essential elements that cause the dematerialisation of the artistic object, as Valdevieso develops in his article "The symbolic appropriation of public space through artivism".

Carlos Tárdez

San Sebastián, 2018

Resina policromada y dardo

9 x 5cm

The conceptual art of the 50s provides a key feature in the development of artivism: confronting and questioning the idea of producing traditional works of art, where the result is not as important as the process itself. Conceptual artists generate works that cannot be classified according to artistic traditions, often reflecting their political and social disagreement.

We must add to this the social movements of the late last century adjacent to the anti-globalisation that continue to develop in the 21st century through the generation of new visual and interventionist codes in the public space . For the most part, this political-social activation has developed its artistic expression through graffiti and urban art, both environments being the foundational basis of the multiple forms that we can find today within the global concept of artivism. Art Madrid is fortunate to bring together a wide range of new generation artists who naturally are keen on new contemporary discourses, where the concerns substantiated in artivism meet various channels of expression and creative representation.

Gerard Mas

Sarcofag, 2019

Polychrome wood

168 x 45cm

Artivism takes shape through the groups, associations and artists that add their rebel and nonconformist creativity to the struggle. Walls, façades, monuments, statues, fill with colour turning the urban landscape into a true museum of works of art that respond to the needs of a society that expresses its disagreement before a wide spectrum of inequalities and injustices that cross the backbone of the social structure.

Mário Macilau

A candle man, 2019

Pigmento, tinta

80 x 120cm

Around the collective imaginary that composes the paradigm of activism, we find expressions and artistic creations that share and involve a subversive and confrontational discourse despite not strictly fitting within the concept of artivism.

This is the case with the line on which the One Project program is developed this year. Under the title of "Salvajes", in the words of its curator, Fernando Gómez de la Cuesta, the selected artists "paint and sculpt with effort as a form of resistance and do so in an epidermal, superfluous and vertiginous era, where hardly anyone It stops at nothing. A beasts that create from expressiveness, drive or iconoclast, from a passionate, visceral, desacralising or irreverent perspective”.

PichiAvo

Orphical Hymn III to Nike, 2019

Mixed media on canvas

120 x 90cm

Artists such as the duo PichiAvo delve into some ways of doing that have to do with the rupture that begins in the endless collection of pre-existing images and concepts. A task that they carry out from a classic art that they intervene, turn, merge, integrate, repel and connect with urban art and its creation codes.

We can also see the prominence of public space as an essential element of the message in the work of Julio Anaya. His work is born, in most cases, to cease to exist, since it is a work in continuous transit, the eternal return, in development, in a permanent relocation that causes new interpretations and that transforms the spaces.

Julio Anaya

Ohannes Vermeer - Muchacha con sombrero rojo, 2918

Acrílico sobre cartón

51 x 36cm

In transgression and criticism, we can inscribe the work of Andrés Planas who, without responding to any hint of political correctness, constructs a sarcastic message about the strong manipulation of factual powers in today's societies.

Art Madrid thus develops a not so usual part of the art market, giving space to speeches and creations that move away from the legitimate artistic limits and rules.

 

If you are a contemporary art gallery and would like to be part of Art Madrid'25, you can now apply to participate!

The 20th edition of Art Madrid will take place from 5 to 9 March 2025 in the Galería de Cristal del Palacio de Cibeles. This privileged location, good communications and the quality of the project have always been guarantees of success for an event that reaches 20,000 visitors in each edition.

Art Madrid has been held during the capital's Art Week for the last twenty years, consolidating itself as an interdisciplinary fair of new artistic trends, in which nearly 40 national and international galleries participate, working with painting, sculpture, graphics, photography, installation and digital art of recent production.

Partial view of Art Madrid'24. Contemporary Art Fair. 19th edition, 2024

Art Madrid carries out a series of programs designed by curators, consultants and cultural experts with the fundamental objective of encouraging collecting, promoting cultural dialogue and making the most recent trends in art accessible to the general public. These initiatives are always focused on the constant improvement of the visitor's experience at our event, always seeking to enrich their interaction with contemporary art.

Partial view of Art Madrid'24. Contemporary Art Fair. 19th edition, 2024

PROGRAMS

Gallery Program

Art Madrid's Gallery Program is the heart of the fair. In each edition of Art Madrid, the program consists of around 40 national and international exhibitors.

Parallel Activities Program

The Parallel Program of Art Madrid'25 will have as its main axis the concept of the Territory City. The public space, the city and the territory will serve as a link to the artistic practices that take place in the "imagined spaces" and revitalize the cultural geography of Madrid.

Collecting Program

Art Madrid offers a specialized consulting service for galleries and the public interested in acquiring works of art.

Support Program for New Entries

Through a specific communication package, new entries to the fair will be presented and given special visibility.

Activities

The program will include a series of activities that will take place throughout the month of February and during Madrid Art Week at the Galería de Cristal del Palacio de Cibeles. Likewise, the parallel program will maintain the 2nd edition of the Open Booth, the Performance Cycle, Lecturas: Curated Walktrhoughs by Art Madrid, and the Interviews Section curated by Art Madrid.

Partial view of Art Madrid'24. Contemporary Art Fair. 19th edition, 2024

AWARDS

Best Booth Award

Award that will be articulated around the gallery with the best booth set up at the fair.

New Entry Award

Award will be given to the newly incorporated gallery with the best booth setup and exhibition proposal at the fair.

Emerging Artist Award

Our sponsors, as part of their line of action to promote contemporary art, will offer a prize to one of the revelation artists participating in the fair.

Partial view of Art Madrid'24. Contemporary Art Fair. 19th edition, 2024

Our support for art and culture extends throughout the year and responds to a global vision in which constancy and commitment to the galleries are essential to achieve our objectives of disseminating contemporary art within and beyond our borders; to create new audiences and interest in art and culture in all sectors of society; to strengthen and promote artists, especially young talent; to value art and culture as essential elements of social development; and to create spaces for cultural visibility and communication that are accessible, open and dynamic.



Relevant information

Applications for the 20th edition of Art Madrid'25 can be sent to the following e-mail address: info@art-madrid.com until October 7, 2024