Art Madrid'26 – DIALOGA CIUDAD. PARALLEL PROGRAM TERRITORY CITY. ART MADRID'25

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DIALOGA CIUDAD. PARALLEL PROGRAM TERRITORY CITY. ART MADRID'25*

Dialoga Ciudad is an initiative that forms part of the parallel program of Art Madrid’25. Curated in collaboration with CRU, this project of poetic actions in the city aims to transform the urban environment into an artistic stage, integrating itinerant poetry as a vehicle that turns public spaces into platforms for reflection and interaction. Through ephemeral interventions in strategic points of the city, participants will explore the potential of poetry as a tool for emotional and social communication. This project highlights the role of art as a catalyst for meaningful dialogues within the urban fabric, redefining the relationship between citizens and their surroundings.

Lucas, Pez Mago, Celia BSoul, Ajo, and Peru Saizprez will traverse the city with performative interventions that invite reflection on contemporary artistic practices. Their journey will take them to key cultural landmarks in the capital, where encounters with passersby will evolve into poetic dialogue..


Lucas. Pez Mago. Courtesy of the artist.


Lucas. Pez Mago

Street Poetic Action with Pez Mago

Location: Plaza de Pedro Zerolo. Chueca. Madrid Centro, 28004 Madrid.

Time: 12:00 - 13:00h


Standing on a chair in the middle of the street, Pez Mago transforms into the spokesperson of the words born from his two poetry books, Esto antes tenía música (This Used to Have Music) and A la velocidad del deseo (At the Speed of Desire). With an old brass megaphone in hand, he projects poetry into the open air, without barriers or filters, letting the vibration of the moment be the guide. He recites verses that reflect the essence of his being, both from his poems and the lyrics of some of his songs, stripped of musical accompaniment, making the word the only bridge between the soul and the crowd.

This poetic act can be performed either by looking directly at the passersby, challenging them to connect with the echo of his words, or by gazing up at the sky, adopting the posture of a street preacher offering his truth to the wind, like someone casting a seed without knowing if it will germinate. The street is his stage, the megaphone his amplified voice, and the passersby are involuntary witnesses of an action aimed at awakening something deep inside each one.

The purpose is not only to share poetry but to create an ephemeral moment, an atmosphere filled with intentions, emotions, and reflections, where each step of the passersby can be touched by the power of words, even if only for an instant.


ABOUT THE ARTIST

Pez Mago is the artistic name of Lucas Álvarez de Toledo (Madrid, 1971). He has performed on all five continents over the last twenty years, particularly in Argentina, Colombia, Mexico, Chile, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Peru, Brazil, Panama, Germany, Italy, Equatorial Guinea, Kenya... In 2018, he received the Piero Ciampi Award for Best International Artist. He was also a musician and instrumentalist in the band Depedro for five years (2010-2015), performing in Europe, the United States, China, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

Pez Mago has released eleven albums since 2000 and has also published two poetry books: Esto antes tenía música (2015), A la velocidad del deseo (2018), and a travel book titled El mundo también se dobla (2016). Over these twenty years of touring, he has played over 1,500 concerts in small cafes and alternative theaters. He has combined his career as a live musician with other important roles, such as being an author. His songs (both lyrics and music) have been performed by a variety of artists, many of whom are far removed from him musical style: Depedro and Leiva recorded "Noche Oscura," Malú and Melendi recorded "Amigo," Sergio Dalma recorded "Con la boca por delante," Raphael recorded "Qué tendrá que ver," Clara Montes recorded "Luna," and so on.


Celia BSoul. Courtesy of the artist.


Celia BSoul

A body is a city

Place: Plaza de Pedro Zerolo. Chueca. Madrid Centro, 28004 Madrid.

Time: 13:00-14:00h


A body is a city presents a poetic journey through the imagery of intimacy and violence, exploring the line that separates cities from bodies, and imagining bodies as cities through which other elements pass, generating an impact in their wake, altering their structure, and building an "architecture of damage and memory."

This performance incorporates poems from the book Ciudad de los otros (Ed. La Imprenta), published in 2023, along with a cappella songs, engaging in dialogue with the space and its passersby. The piece revolves around a question: what differentiates a city from a body, and if our bodies are cities, how do we remain safe from the violence that comes from both outside and within them?


ABOUT THE ARTIST

Celia Fernández Escobar (Celia Bsoul) is a journalist, rapper, and poet from Madrid, whose work merges rap and poetry, addressing gender issues from an intimate perspective. She has released her album Estacciones and several singles and collaborations, exploring the bridges between both genres. Currently, she is working on her EP Pobre dios, focused on the imagery of violence. She has participated in festivals such as VOCIFERIO (Valencia), La Noche de los Libros (Madrid), FELISA (Cantabria), and Ruby Sessions (Dublin), among others. Her first book, Ciudad de los otros, was published in 2023 with the La Imprenta publishing house, presenting a multidisciplinary proposal that combines poetry and dance.

In addition to her artistic career, Celia was a finalist for the II Premio Poesía Viva in 2021 and has been published in various anthologies, such as Última poesía crítica. Jóvenes poetas en tiempos de colapso (Lastura Ediciones) and in the Nayagua magazine. In 2023, she participated as a text creator and performer in the stage proposal Antes que caiga la noche, a contemporary reinterpretation of The Iliad through hip hop culture. Her career also includes content creation for public television programs and films, as well as teaching rap and poetry with a gender perspective in workshops.


Ajo y Peru Saizprez.Courtesy of the artists.


Ajo and Peru Saizprez

Crossing the Traveler with a Poem. A reading of their own micro-poems on the street, interacting with the public and inviting them to read some verses.

Location: Plaza de Pedro Zerolo. Chueca. Madrid Centro, 28004 Madrid.

Time: 16:30-18:30h


The activity Crossing the Traveler with a Poem consists of a performative reading by poets Ajo and Peru Saizprez at Plaza de Pedro Zerolo, Chueca, with a maximum duration of two hours and a short intermission. Unlike conventional readings, this proposal directly involves passersby, who can voluntarily participate in a sensory and immersive experience. Each person who accepts the challenge will choose a poem and allow the poet to approach their ear to whisper it verse by verse. As the words travel through their mind, the poem will be processed internally and then emerge once more, this time spoken aloud by the volunteer, sharing it with the rest of the audience.

Before participating, each person will receive a detailed explanation of the dynamics and sign an authorization acknowledging the risk of being transformed by poetry. This intervention seeks to turn words into a living experience, blurring the boundary between spectator and protagonist, while exploring the power of poetry to penetrate, resonate, and transform those who hear it.


ABOUT THE ARTISTS


Peru Saizprez. Courtesy of the artist.


Peru Saizprez (Lima, Peru), poet and performer born in Lima, has developed his career in Europe, standing out with books such as Sexo Satélite and Un Corazón con Pelos. Co-author of theatrical works, he conceives his readings as concerts without music, bringing poetry to unexpected spaces. He is the creator of Universal Poem, an infinite poem with over 60,000 verses, and co-founder of the POETAS festival, which since 2006 has been spreading poetry beyond traditional formats. In 2025, he will publish his fifth book with Arrebato Libros.


AJO. Courtesy of the artist.


AJO, a key figure of Madrid's counterculture, transitioned from experimental music to micropoetry, exploring wordplay as a way of life. She directed the Yuxtaposiciones and Experimentaclub festivals at La Casa Encendida in Madrid for over a decade and has published several volumes of Micropoemas, becoming one of the most widely read poets in Spain. Her poetry has graced stages worldwide alongside musicians such as Julieta Venegas and Judit Farrés. A cultural agitator and underground figure, she continues to seek the essence of absolute brevity in her poetic creation.



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ART MADRID '26: 21 YEARS OF CONTEMPORARY ART



In 2026, Art Madrid will celebrate its 21st edition, further consolidating its position as a leading contemporary art fair in Spain. From 4 to 8 March, the fair will bring together thirty-five national and international galleries at the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles. Returning to its date during Madrid Art Week, Art Madrid reaffirms its pioneering role by expanding the fair calendar and offering an open and enriching dialogue in which diverse artistic proposals coexist.


Throughout its history, Art Madrid has established itself as a leading presence in the contemporary art scene. It is renowned for its commitment to promoting both emerging and established galleries, and for its dedication to making contemporary art accessible to a diverse range of audiences.

Far from being a fair curated under a single curatorial line, Art Madrid promotes diversity in its offering, respecting the identity of each exhibitor and promoting a plural creative ecosystem that reflects the richness and differences of the current art scene.


Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano


GALLERY PROGRAM: AN ACTIVE MAP OF CONTEMPORARY CREATION


The Gallery Program is at the heart of Art Madrid’26. For this edition, thirty-five national and international galleries will participate in a space that celebrates experimentation, hybrid languages, and the latest artistic production. The selection of proposals constitutes a representative mosaic of the aesthetics, discourses, and contemporary practices that are shaping the present of art in Europe.

The Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles will once again be transformed into a dynamic space where the exhibitions interact with each other, inviting the public to explore visual narratives that show the evolution of contemporary languages. Works that experiment with new media, formal investigations that reformulate traditional techniques, pieces that reflect on the links between technology and humanity, and poetic approaches that explore territory, identity, or memory make up a plural, stimulating journey open to multiple interpretations.

Art Madrid also continues to strive to become a platform for discovery, allowing both professionals and visitors to identify new voices and consolidate relationships with artists who are already emerging as leaders within the contemporary cultural landscape.


Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano


NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITORS

Thirty-five galleries are participating in this edition, twenty-seven of which are returning after finding the fair to be a favourable environment in which to strengthen connections, increase visibility and promote their artists' work on an international scene.

Twenty-six of these are Spanish galleries from various regions of the country: 3 Punts Gallery (Barcelona), Alba Cabrera Gallery (Valencia), Aurora Vigil-Escalera (Gijón), CLC ARTE (Valencia), DDR Art Gallery (Madrid), Est_ArtSpace (Madrid), g • gallery (Barcelona), Galería Arancha Osoro (Oviedo), Galería BAT alberto cornejo (Madrid), Galería Beatriz Pereira (Plasencia), Galería Carmen Terreros (Zaragoza), Galería Espiral (Noja), Galería La Mercería (Valencia), Galería Luisa Pita (Santiago de Compostela), Galería María Aguilar (Cadiz), Metro Gallery (Santiago de Compostela), Rodrigo Juarranz Gallery (Aranda de Duero), Sigüenza Gallery (Sigüenza), Gerhardt Braun Gallery (Palma de Mallorca | Madrid), Inéditad Gallery (Barcelona), Kur Art Gallery (San Sebastián), LAVIO (Murcia | Shanghai), Moret Art (A Coruña), Pigment Gallery (Barcelona), Shiras Galería (Valencia) and Uxval Gochez Gallery (Barcelona). This selection of galleries highlights the importance of the Spanish scene and its contribution to the development of the contemporary cultural ecosystem.


Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano


The nine international galleries participating in this edition are: Banditrazos Gallery (Seoul, South Korea), Collage Habana (Havana, Cuba), Galeria São Mamede (Lisbon, Portugal), Galerie ONE (Paris, France), KANT Gallery (Copenhagen, Denmark | Palma de Mallorca, Spain), Loo & Lou Gallery (Paris, France), Nuno Sacramento Arte Contemporânea (Ílhavo, Portugal), Trema Arte Contemporânea (Lisbon, Portugal) and Yiri Arts (Taipei, Taiwan). Their participation broadens the fair's international reach, promoting creative and conceptual exchange between diverse artistic perspectives.

In addition, eight new galleries have been added to the list of exhibitors:

Banditrazos Gallery (Seoul, South Korea), Est_ArtSpace (Madrid, Spain), g • gallery (Barcelona, Spain), Galería Beatriz Pereira (Plasencia, Spain), Galerie ONE (Paris, France), Galería Sigüenza (Sigüenza, Spain), Gerhardt Braun Gallery (Palma de Mallorca | Madrid, Spain) and KANT Gallery (Copenhagen, Denmark | Palma de Mallorca). These additions reinforce Art Madrid's commitment to continuous renewal and openness to spaces that are exploring new approaches to contemporary art.


Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano


PARALLEL PROGRAM: A REFLECTION ON THE ‘SPECIES’ OF SPACES


One of the great attractions of Art Madrid is its Parallel Program, which this time delves into the notions of: ‘Fragments, relationships, and imaginary distances.’ This approach turns the fair into an expanded space, where art, audience, architecture, and memory converge. Thus, the Parallel Program proposes a critical approach to the container of the event itself. Taking as a reference the reading of Species of Spaces by Georges Perec (Perec, Georges. Species of Spaces. Montesinos, 2004), it adopts a marked interest in the everyday, that which usually goes unnoticed, the infra-ordinary, giving each corner of the venue its own narrative value.

Another of the conceptual references of this edition is based on an analysis of Édouard Glissant's Poetics of Relation (Glissant, Édouard. Poetics of Relation; Prologue by Manuel Rebón. - 1st ed. - Bernal: Universidad Nacional de Quilmes, 2017.), which advocates the coexistence of differences and the importance of non-totalizing links, which are extrapolated to the art system, proposing an understanding of it as a network of exchanges and connections that respect the uniqueness of each cultural practice and actor.

‘Imaginary distances,’ understood as subjective journeys and affective cartographies traced by visitors, thus become the conceptual axis that articulates this program. This perspective transforms the Fair into an experience that goes beyond visual contemplation, turning it into a territory that can be collectively reconstructed, without losing sight of the paths travelled by the individuality of each voice.

In this edition, the Parallel Program encourages visitors to engage with the space and its projects, turning contemplation into an opportunity to question and interact with things that might otherwise go unnoticed in everyday life.


Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano


In the preview and during Art Week, Art Madrid'26 offers a range of experiences that allow the public to get closer to the creative process and practices of the participating artists. Among the returning initiatives are the Interview Program, Curated Walkthroughs, the third edition of Open Booth, dedicated to emerging creation, the presentation of Espacio Nebrija, a university project in collaboration with Nebrija University, alongside the fair’s established Performance Cycle.

In addition, the One Shot Collectors Program and the second edition of the Patronage Program are back. These initiatives seek to strengthen the bond between collectors, artists, and the public, promoting ethical, informed, and responsible practices in collecting and patronage.


Art Madrid '25. Photo by Lucas Amillano


Art Madrid'26 has established itself as a dynamic meeting place, where diverse experiences, discourses, and practices converge. Far from being a fair curated under a single curatorial line, Art Madrid promotes diversity as a structuring principle, respecting the identity of each exhibitor and fostering a plural creative ecosystem. This plurality is not merely formal, but translates into a network of practices, languages, and perspectives that reflects the complexity, richness, and tensions of the contemporary art scene, consolidating the fair as a catalyst for cultural relations, an observatory of emerging trends, and an international reference point for the Spanish art scene.

WELCOME TO ART MADRID'26