Art Madrid'25 – Exhibition Le Corbusier, an atlas of modern landscape in Caixa Forum Madrid.

CaixaForum Madrid hosts until October 12 a special exhibition devoted to this creative, organized by the Museum of Modern Art in New York and in collaboration with the Fondation Le Corbusier in Paris. 
 
The exhibition offers a truly vital tour through Charles-Édouard Jeanneret's life with his early influences at his birthplace, in La Chaux-de-Fonds (Jura, Switzerland., 1887), and tracking of all his movements at the planet, which had a great influence on his work and his concept of architectura and urbanism. 
Jeanneret was more than an architect and furniture designer, was also a painter, writer and photographer, and, moreover, was a visionary, critic and ambitious, whose revolutionary projects were breathtaking for everyone. But what it was most fascinating in his works was the idea of questioning the status quo and ambition as a radical change in concepts, starting with the material used itself and following the organic character of the buildings. In 1920, already established in Paris, founded with poet Paul Dermée magazine of art and avant-garde culture L'Esprit nouveau, where he began signing his articles with the pseudonym Le Corbusier, not to link your real name to provocations contained in his writings. 
Its buildings are the aesthetic lines of the 50s, however, the zenith of his creations blossoms between 1920 and 1930 never would have said that some of their best ideas are from this period, but it is. The commitment reinforced concrete housing construction modular and expandable and movable plates, the vast redevelopment projects of European capitals ... The ideas of Le Corbusier soaked all their architectural conceptions and in them was always the deseeo of espetar dialogue with the landscape and the environment, and create a magnificent work which incorporate all the good that had been collecting throughout his many travels abroad. From this period are the groundbreaking proposals for redevelopment of the center of Paris or Moscow Kremlin, projects that never saw the light. 
 
The insatiable ambition of Le Corbusier not always (or rather never) coincided with the desire for change or reform who had to approve their projects. Le Corbusier was busy, tireless in attack the obsolescence of these thoughts and the obtuse and limited character who cercenaban, again and again, his view of revolution and urban transformation. Few of his extraordinary complete renovation projects were carried out, and that fruited did outside Europe. Indeed, Le Corbusier was almost bound to an intellectual exile. In his many lectures, in which he drew while setting out his ideas, to the amazement of the audience, did not hide his disappointment with the impositions of power and constant denials that he was a victim. 
Le Corbusier did not hesitate to go to South America, Africa and Asia. However always dreamed of returning to Europe. And he did, accepting projects 
lesser importance in which he could also implement some of his ideas, such as building known unités d'habitation, modular homes designed to facilitate the building and be functional, or designs in harmony with the landscape, such as the well-known chapel of Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp. 
 
In recent time, Le Corbusier became melancholic and nostalgic, and drastically reduced its activity, taking refuge in his painting studio at the foot of the Mediterranean, to live with what he called "my island".

 

From July 7 to 9, 2025, the Balsera Palace will host the First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art, an intensive 15-hour program that will explore the complex and fundamental question of taste in contemporary art. Organized by the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities at Nebrija University and the Avilés City Council, in collaboration with 9915 — Association of Private Collectors of Contemporary Art and the Institute of Contemporary Art, the course offers a unique opportunity for analysis and debate on the dynamics that shape aesthetic and symbolic value in today’s art scene.


First Course on Collecting and Contemporary Art. Avilés, Asturias


The notion of taste, intrinsically tied to aesthetic judgments and power relations, has played a decisive role in the historical prominence of artists and artworks. However, contemporary art—marked by its breaking of conventions, diversity of media and techniques, and critical stance toward traditional canons—raises fundamental questions about the continued relevance of this concept.

This course will explore how the decisions made by key players in the art system—institutions, private collections, galleries, curators, and artists—continually redefine a field of taste shaped by aesthetic, symbolic, cultural, social, and political logics.


"¿But does it exist, and what is the prevailing taste of our time—so seemingly confused, fragmented, indecipherable?" - Omar Calabrese, The Neo-Baroque Era.


The academic program, directed by José Luis Guijarro Alonso, Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University, and Pablo Álvarez de Toledo, Head of the Department of Arts at Nebrija University and the Nebrija Institute of Arts and Humanities, will bring together a distinguished group of national experts—including collectors, critics, curators, gallery owners, and artists—whose contributions will address key issues in shaping aesthetic, symbolic, and market value in today’s art world.


PROGRAM

MONDAY, JULY 7

9:30 AM Registration.

10:00 AM Course Opening Nebrija University Avilés City Council Presented by Rosario López Meras – President of the Association of Contemporary Art Collectors, 9915, and Adrián Piera – President of the ICA, Institute of Contemporary Art.

10:30 AM Course Presentation By José Luis Guijarro Alonso – Art Historian and Anthropologist, Researcher, and Director of the Master’s in Art Market and Related Business Management at Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion The Taste of Private Collecting as a Prelude to History. Speakers: Candela Álvarez Soldevilla – Entrepreneur and Collector; Javier Quilis – INELCOM Collection; José Miguel Vegas Valle – Collector. Moderator: Luis Feás – Critic and Curator.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Individual Lecture On Good Taste in Contemporary Art. Speaker: Marisol Salanova – Curator and Art Critic, Director of Arteinformado.

4:45 PM Panel Discussion The Influence of Galleries in Shaping Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Elba Benítez – Gallerist; Ricardo Pernas – Gallerist (Arniches 26); Aurora Vigil-Escalera – Gallerist. Moderator: Rafael Martín – Coleccion@casamer.

6:00 PM End of Day.

6:30 PM Activity and Cocktail Visit to the Exhibition Asturian Artists in the Pérez Simón Collection – Avilés.

TUESDAY, JULY 8

10:00 AM Individual Lecture Contemporary (Bad) Taste: Kitsch, Camp, and Tacky. Speaker: Julio Pérez Manzanares – Autonomous University of Madrid.

11:00 AM Coffee Break.

11:30 AM Panel Discussion Institutions and the Formation of Contemporary Taste. Speakers: Virginia López – Artist, Founder of PACA_Proyectos Artísticos Casa Antonino; Julieta de Haro – Artistic Director of CentroCentro; Carlos Urroz – Director of Institutional Relations, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Moderator: Laura Gutiérrez – Director, School of Art of Oviedo.

1:00 PM Lunch Break.

3:30 PM Panel Discussion Beyond the Eye: The Taste for Ethical, Ecological, Social, or Political Concerns in Contemporary Art. Speakers: Semíramis González – Independent Curator; Eugenio Ampudia – Artist; Claudia Rodríguez-Ponga – Independent Curator. Moderator: Bárbara Mur Borrás – PhD in Fine Arts.

5:00 PM End of Day.

5:30 PM Activity Visit to the Studiolo Exhibition – Candela Álvarez Soldevilla Collection.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 9

9:30 AM Meeting with Asturian Artists Speakers: María Castellanos – Artist; Avelino Sala – Artist; Consuelo Vallina – Artist. Moderator: Pablo Álvarez de Toledo – Nebrija University.

11:00 AM Activity Visit to the Niemeyer Center – Avilés.

Course Closing Ceremony.





This course is designed for art professionals, collectors, researchers, and students seeking an in-depth analysis of the dynamics that shape taste and collecting practices in contemporary art. Adopting a critical and multidisciplinary perspective, it provides a unique opportunity to rigorously examine the aesthetic, symbolic, and structural factors that underpin the legitimization of contemporary art.