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MOMENTUM: AN AUGMENTED REALITY EXPERIENCE (AR) AT ART MADRID'25

From March 5 to 9, Montalbán street will transform into an immersive digital environment with Ciudad Sutil, an innovative augmented reality experience led by multimedia artist Susi Vetter. This project is curated in collaboration with CRU and is part of the parallel program of Art Madrid'25. The proposal invites the public to explore an alternative layer of reality through technology, offering a sublimated vision of the urban environment and the city's landscape.

Momentum. Digital scketch. WIP.

Ciudad Sutil: A new way of inhabiting urban space.

Ciudad Sutil is a program that proposes ephemeral artistic interventions in public spaces, exploring new ways of inhabiting and perceiving the city. Through digital art and augmented reality, it seeks to reveal hidden layers of the urban environment, questioning the rigidity of the built landscape and opening spaces for imagination and reflection on our relationship with the city and nature.

Susi Vetter. Momentum. AR Art Installation. Technologies used: Adobe After Effects & Photoshop, Procreate, Blender. Processor: 8th Wall. 2025.

Momentum: Redefining the relationship between City and Nature

In Momentum, the urban landscape with its ordered architecture, paved streets, and precise geometry suddenly opens up to reveal a living canvas that challenges our perception of city spaces. At the end of the street, a forest emerges between the buildings. From this wild growth, a giant mask arises, initially blank and inert, which is pushed upward toward a triangulated glass ceiling, reminiscent of the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles. The mask remains suspended there, between the artificial world below and the contained sky above.

Its eyes slowly open, as if seeing the world for the first time. From one of them, tender plants begin to sprout, initially shy, then with increasing vigor, transforming the sterile façade into a living, organic entity.

As nature claims the mask, the glass ceiling above it – that meticulous human attempt to frame the sky – begins to crack. Fragments of glass fall like rain, breaking the barrier between the built space and the open air. The mask, now covered in vegetation, slowly descends until it disappears.

Momentum. Digital scketch.

A reflection about the urban future

This augmented reality experience invites us to reconsider our relationship with the natural world in urban environments. The street, with its rigid lines and concrete certainty, becomes a space for exploration to imagine new forms of coexistence between the built and the organic. The mask symbolizes our artificial relationship with nature — how we perceive ourselves as separate from the wild, until nature finds ways to break into our spaces.

In the age of the Anthropocene, where human impact shapes every ecosystem, Urban Rewilding questions whether our future lies in continuous separation or in seeking new ways of coexistence between our built world and natural systems. As the boundaries between the city and the forest blur in this augmented reality experience, we glimpse possibilities for urban spaces where nature is not just a contained or decorative element, but an essential and transformative force.

Technology and creative process

The piece Momentum has been developed using various digital tools, including Adobe After Effects, Photoshop, Procreate, and Blender. Its processing is based on the 8th Wall platform, allowing for a seamless and immersive integration of virtual elements into the urban landscape.

Susi Vetter. Invited artist at Ciudad Sutil.

About the artist: Susi Vetter

Susi Vetter is an illustrator and multimedia artist based in Berlin. Her work focuses on telling immersive stories that blur the boundaries between physical and digital realities. Her tools include the web, augmented reality, and map projections, with the aim of creating experiences that invite reflection on the relationship between humans and their environment.

From March 5th to 9th, at Montalbán street 1, at the entrance of the Galería de cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles, you can enjoy Momentum.

Once again! ​ 🎂 2️⃣1️⃣ ​ 💫

Art Madrid returned to the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles from 4 to 8 March 2026 to celebrate twenty-one years of contemporary art. Spin the wheel and we're back for a new edition! That means that in two months we'll see each other there, at the fair, at Art Madrid'26.

The roller coaster of emotions that is a whole year of work starts slowly, then accelerates until it reaches a frenetic pace. Everybody gets ready for their own "performance", depending on where they are and what their role is during those days. In our case, we go from the computer screen to the entrance of the fair, where—after a year of preparation—we know by heart the name and face of every artist and gallery owner who arrives on setup day, before the sun has even risen, to register and begin an intense week of art.

It's double the excitement ☺️ because seeing each other again that day, just before the opening, means that we've managed to organize a new edition of our event.

Leticia Feduchi. Chair with green textile. Sigüenza Gallery.

For more than two decades, Art Madrid has served as an international meeting place where artists, galleries, and the public come together to discuss trends, techniques, and conceptual approaches in contemporary art. After a year of preparation, the run-up to the fair generates great excitement and marks the start of a highly anticipated week... the most important one... Madrid Art Week (in Madrid)..

The fair stands out for placing artists at the center of its proposal, promoting a dialogue between each creator's personal experience and the public's perception. It thus consolidates its role as a stage for promotion, commercialization, and critical reflection in the sector, seeking to shine the spotlight for an entire week on the work of those who make an art fair possible. We all contribute to and help build it, but it is in the work of art—the one we admire and that has come from the hands of a person who does something with great perfection—where the magic truly happens and where we must focus our attention.

Antonio Barahona. The big umbrella. María Aguilar Gallery.

In 2026, Art Madrid will bring together 185 artists from more than 25 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, and North America: The international and multicultural nature of the fair is showcased by the presence of the following countries: Germany, Argentina, Belarus, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China, South Korea, Cuba, Denmark, Lebanon, Spain, the United States, Slovakia, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Morocco, Mexico, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Serbia, South Africa, Sweden, Taiwan, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

Of the 185 artists, 78 are participating in Art Madrid'26 for the first time and 107 are returning, reflecting a balance between innovation and continuity. Approximately 75% are national artists and the remaining 25% come from international galleries, ensuring a diverse range of styles, techniques, and discourses.

Carmen Mansilla. The color of silence. Inéditad Gallery.

We would like to highlight that this year the presence of female artists is particularly significant, exceeding the "50" barrier, following constant efforts to raise awareness of the importance of their participation in exhibition circuits, which remains essential. Of the 185 participants, 62 are women, and 33 of them are making their debut at the fair. These figures reflect, beyond a formal commitment, the continuous and silent work that our organization carries out to promote gender equality and give visibility to new voices in contemporary art, always from a realistic perspective and consistent with the structure of the sector. In this sense, the proposal and representation of female artists is a shared responsibility, in which the role of galleries is fundamental.

Carmen Baena. The garden blooms XI. Galería BAT alberto cornejo.

And if those figures haven't been enough to grab your attention, let's talk about the works you'll find at Art Madrid'26: most of them are recent creations (2023-2026).

You'll find around 2,000 works, ranging from painting and drawing to sculpture and assemblages, with sizes ranging from small formats (7×5 inches) to large canvases (79×59 inches). The main disciplines continue to be painting, sculpture, and drawing, without neglecting photography and installation. Among the paintings, oil and acrylic on classic supports (canvas, wood, board) predominate, although the use of mixed and contemporary techniques is also evident, combining oil, acrylic, spray paint, and collage on panel.

The drawings include graphite, charcoal, or pastel on paper or panel, sometimes mounted on board, and even unconventional supports such as leather. In the three-dimensional realm, we find materials as diverse as ceramics and glazed stoneware, resins and metals (steel, iron, aluminum) for industrial sculptures, carved or assembled natural wood, and organic fragments (conifer, linden, and cypress logs) integrated with natural dyes. In short, the works combine classical, industrial, and organic media, reflecting the technical diversity of contemporary art today.

A significant number of artists are participating in the fair for the first time, addressing issues such as migration, racial and gender identities, sustainability, the deconstruction of traditional languages of representation, and critical reflection on art and its own system. Architecture, design, traditional craft, languages, and digital environments have also informed the exhibition proposals for this edition..

Ramón González Palazón. ST. LAVIO.

We welcome the artists of Art Madrid'26 with open arms because WE LOVE THE ARTISTS! We remain committed to promoting open creative dialogue. The works stand out for their technical quality and in-depth exploration of form, color, and texture. From evocative landscapes to intimate portraits and three-dimensional pieces, each creation reflects the artists' professional commitment, forming a collection of visually striking works that invite reflection on the nature of art and its relationship with the contemporary context. Because loving artists means, above all, viewing their work with the attention it deserves.

Han Bing. Family trees. LAVIO.