RAÍCES AFUERA. PERFORMANCE CYCLE X ART MADRID'25

Art Madrid celebrates twenty years of contemporary art from March 5 to 9, 2025, at the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles. During Art Week, it becomes an exhibition platform for national and international galleries and artists. In this edition, with the aim of providing a space for artists working in the realm of performance art, the fair presents Raíces Afuera, a performance cycle that explores notions of belonging and the need for rootedness in a contemporary world marked by fragmentation, displacement, and disconnection. Positioned within the fair as a critical and reflective space, the project challenges the individual’s relationship with their environment, community, and sense of identity.

PERFORMANCE: ENSAYOS DE DESPLAZAMIENTOS. BY JOSEFINA BARDI

March 5 | 19:00h. Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles.

Ensayos de desplazamientos. 2025. Scketch. Josefina Bardi.

The project is framed within the artist's research on her relationship with her twin sister, a theme she has been exploring since 2018. Over this time, a series of live actions and visual experiences have been developed, linked to sculptural concepts such as weight, gravity, form, and space—all in tension with the notion of duplicity. This research examines how two twin bodies connect and interact with each other, as well as with the spaces/territories they inhabit. Within this context, "taking root" is approached through the displacement of bodies, exploring the theme of connection and its relationship with distance and territory.

The idea of duplicity is explored by inviting a questioning of personal connections through the positioning of twin bodies in situations of tension with suggestive architectural spaces. The concept of space is referenced, particularly in relation to the distance that has separated the artist from her sister since 2022, a distance that conditions and challenges the notions of physical territory, time, communication, emotions, and affections.

This project proposes a series of "encounter rehearsals." The idea of encounter is understood as a poetic conceptualization of bodies situated in a space-time-place, intertwining verbs—words—and actions to create a choreography of encounters. Through displacement, crossing, jumping, and traversing the space, these actions create micro-affective architectures.

VERB / ACTION

1 WALK - DRAG

2 SEE/HEAR/SPEAK - THROW

3 STAND - JUMP

Three micro-affective architectures will be built, each linked to an action—throw, launch, and drag—through the choice of three verbs: walk, stand, and see/hear/speak. These actions will allow the construction of the piece.

Remove from the Root. 2024. Performance Documentation. Josefina Bardi.

ABOUT JOSEFINA BARDI

Josefina Bardi Prida (Santiago, Chile, 1996) is a visual artist and educator, currently based in Madrid, Spain. She holds a degree in Visual Arts from the Universidad Diego Portales and has complemented her education with a Master's in Plastic, Artistic, and Visual Education from Universidad Nebrija and the Instituto Cervantes. Her teaching career spans institutions in Chile and Spain, where she has worked as an art teacher and collaborator in workshops with prominent artists.

In her professional career, she has been the head of the ceramics workshop at Brio Atelier, production and artwork assistant for artists such as Cristóbal Ochoa, Camila Ramírez, and Sebastián Mahaluf, and has also worked in graphic design.

Her work has been recognized with various awards, including First Place in the Municipal Award for Young Art of Santiago (2024) and the PAAL residency at Zapadores Ciudad del Arte (2023). She has held solo exhibitions in Santiago and Madrid, and participated in numerous collective shows across America and Europe, including the Biennial at the Museum of Memory and the MAC Quinta Normal.

ART MADRID’ 26: 21 YEARS OF CONTEMPORARY ART

Discover all the information about the artists and galleries participating in the 21st edition of Art Madrid. The catalog features a curated selection of the works presented in this edition, along with the most relevant details of the event, making it an essential tool for engaging with the fair’s key figures and exploring the defining elements of today’s art scene.

In 2026, Art Madrid celebrates its 21st edition, further establishing itself as a leading event within Spain’s cultural sector. From March 4 to 8, the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles will once again become a meeting point for galleries, collectors, artists, and contemporary art enthusiasts.

Over the past twenty-one years, the fair has evolved into a dynamic and ever-expanding platform, fostering diversity in artistic languages, techniques, and discourses. In this edition, the Galleries Program brings together around 35 exhibitors from more than seven countries, offering a representative overview of the most recent developments in contemporary creation.

The Art Madrid ’26 catalog serves as a key publication for discovering the work of this edition’s galleries and artists —marked by experimentation and a plurality of perspectives— while also documenting the conceptual axes that shape the fair. As part of the Parallel Program, INHABITING THE EPHEMERAL: A Reflection on the “Species” of Spaces proposes a reflection on space, relationships, and shared experience, expanding the understanding of the fair beyond its commercial dimension and highlighting its cultural and experiential significance.

In addition, the catalog presents the initiatives that complete the program, such as the Open Booth dedicated to emerging creation, the Nebrija Space in collaboration with Nebrija University, the Performance Series “Open Infinite. What the Body Remembers,” the One Shot Collectors Program, and the Patronage Program, reaffirming the fair’s commitment to supporting, mediating, and accompanying contemporary art at every stage.

We invite you to discover more about Art Madrid ’26 through the catalog of its 21st edition — a publication that, beyond serving as documentary memory, becomes a cartography of the present artistic moment and an open door to new ways of inhabiting contemporary art.