Art Madrid'25 – INTERVIEW TO MARIO GUTIÉRREZ CRU, THE CURATOR OF THE PROGRAM ART MADRID-PROYECTOR’20

We interviewed Mario Gutiérrez Cru, the curator and director of the video art platform PROYECTOR, who will be in charge of the Art Madrid’20 program of activities. To celebrate our 15th anniversary, we have prepared our most dynamic and daring edition in which to enjoy video art, action art, sound art and performance like never before. Live art will turn this event into an authentic experience, with the accurate and renewed criteria of Mario Gutiérrez Cru.

Lois Patiño, frame of “Strata of the Image”, 2015

How did the Video Art Platform PROYECTOR begin and where is it now?

PROYECTOR started in 2008 as an annual video art festival in the disappeared Espacio Menosuno. This independent project linked more than 100 people who supported contemporary art as a crowdfunding, even before that concept became fashionable in Spain. This collaborative model made possible an art centre where showings, experimental concerts, meetings, projections and residences were common, in a moment when installations, performances, sound art and video art were still great strangers.

Since the first edition of PROYECTOR, we have chosen to invite international creators and festivals to make site specific pieces, which allowed us to know the panorama of the video in other countries. This opened doors for the festival to be an annual mapping of the independent spaces of the city. We went from a headquarters to the current configuration with a dozen spaces both independent, public and private. The festival finally became a platform due to its continuous work and now travels to other countries with which it collaborates, shows and shares.

At present, it is a consolidated project that brings together about 100 artworks during 2 weeks of September. Video installation, video performance, hybrid proposals and works of international festivals in an auditorium format, besides the professional meetings with festival directors, museums, curators, lawyers, collectors, curators and artists that are the bulk of our meetings.

 

How do you think video art and action art are generally perceived by the public in Spain? Do we still have to educate the public in the understanding of these disciplines compared to other countries?

Both video art and action art are still the great unknown by the vast majority of people. Although increasingly, thanks mainly to the efforts of independent festivals and institutions, the public is getting used to these manifestations. These proposals were born in the last century and, little by little, the spectators begin to develop that pleasure that only art can give. But as we all know, the changes, the unknown, produces a jump to the void, a lack of comprehension that requires time and find on our way pieces that we are passionate about, that make us think, that allow us to escape, reflect, wanting to know more. And to all this, if we add the participation of professionals who tell us about their creation, their passions, their way of doing, thinking, their weaknesses, their fears or their failures, we will manage to humanise.

Therefore, both in PROYECTOR, as in my work as a curator and teacher, we make this effort to try to open knowledge to these thrilling proposals. The word to educate is dangerous because who are we to educate, to instil in others our ideas? What we try is to implant seeds of passion for art, either live with actions or performances, as in deferred with moving images, video creations, or even experimental cinema. I don't think Spain is very different from other neighbouring countries. The effort to give visibility, want to show, open these proposals to the public is constant and want to share in each meeting we do or in each festival I attend.

It is the second year that you are as curator of the ART MADRID-PROYECTOR program, how do you think the project has evolved for this edition and how has it affected everything that you have seen throughout this year?

The truth is that it is a surprise and an honour to be a curator again at the fair. Always looking for novelty, surprise, innovation to attract the press and spectators, but renewal is a set of values that require time for the viewer to become familiar with them. And, of course, video art requires a lot of effort to make it habitual. To this we must add the novelties of this year: a commitment to pieces that move between moving images and the “numériques” - as Francophones would say to digital works - pieces with a strong technological presence, either new media , or simply works with motors, mechanisms, inflatables, interactive, auto generative, random... Also, and perhaps the great novelty, is the opening not only to technology but to the use of the body. Artists have been invited to work in the live arts, in that boundary between action art and performance (in its Anglo-Saxon variable) related to the performing arts.

Another novelty of this edition is the creation of a booth within the fair itself where all actions will be developed. In this spot, the meetings with the artists and the screenings of the international curatorship will be presented. I have invited 13 festivals from Portugal, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Morocco, Colombia, Mexico, Peru and Argentina. This will give the attendees the opportunity to witness more than a hundred works of maximum relevance on either side of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

What has been your criteria when selecting the artists and specialists that make up the entire program of activities?

We have trusted in involving viewers of the current creation in video art, new media and action art. This has been divided into four stages. A first one, to present three Spanish artists: Patxi Araújo, Olga Diego y Lois Patiño. Each of these profiles represents a variable of creation: mechanical and digital art in Patxi; the art of flying and creating habitable inflatables in Olga; and the audiovisual creation that moves between the cinema and the lighting video creations in Lois. The three will teach master classes at Medialab Prado, the most important centre of Madrid for these types of proposals.

On the other hand, the artist Eduardo Balanza will open his studio, maximum space of creativity and intimacy, to show us his creations of great dimensions, and especially his digital organ with which he has been experimenting for years.

In addition, as every year, we will have in Sala Alcalá 3 a meeting with great professionals who have been behind museums and art centres related to photography, video and new media. Rafael Doctor, Karin Ohlenschläger and Berta Sichel, together with the moderator Miguel Álvarez-Fernández, will give us a good introduction to these types of proposals under the title “From photography to the new media”.

Finally, as I said, we will have a booth at the fair where actions, screenings and presentations will take place. Among the performers are Iván Puñal, Eunice Artur with Bruno Gonçalves, Arturo Moya and Ruth Abellán Alzallú, and Olga Diego, and among the video artists and installation creators: Abelardo Gil-Fournier, Fernando Baena, Mario Santamaría y Maia Navas. Each one of them can represent very different ways of understanding performance, although they all have in common that they use technology (computers, processors, cameras and sensors) to develop them. These creators will tell us about their career of several decades creating pieces in front of the public with a marked claiming nature, or they will invite us to participate, interact live with their proposals adapted or created for the fair itself.

With this, I have tried to create a minimum conceptual and procedural framework that serves as an aperitif for the everybody and that allows mind-opening for spectators and creators.

Iván Puñal, performance at Rubén Martín de Lucas studio, 2019

What do you think of the presence of video art and action art at fairs?

The video art entered with great discretion in the fairs almost two decades ago. The necessary elements to show it with the quality that this art required were still expensive, and potential buyers were scarce, afraid to get out of what their advisors recommend and the possible problems of conservation, care and even the possibility of showing it in their homes.

Action art may have been visible for more time at fairs, although much more at festivals, biennials and Documentas. Perhaps in these latter ones, not considering it as a product to be sold, it allowed much more freedom for both creators and programmers. Documentation, both in photography, as in video or cinema, was very much common especially since the 70's. Large museums and private collectors acquired "memories" of actions they attended or would have liked to. Photography, today is more standardised at fairs and among buyers, but until recently it was also that unknown, that sales challenge. The same goes for the video and that is why the precaution for these acquisitions continues.

 

Is video art collecting possible? How can this format be transmitted to those who are more sceptical about its artistic value?

Collectors have been buying this type of works for more than five decades and these transactions are increasingly regulated. Lawyers, collectors, festivals and fairs have worked side by side with the artists so that both parties are protected in bilateral relations that respect copyright, acquisition and property rights. In addition, a change in the patronage law is ongoing so that it resembles other’s countries regulations where the acquisition of works of art has great tax advantages that favour the art market and all those involved.

I do not think that people are sceptical about the artistic value, but about their possible future profitability, their loss of value due to their lack of privacy when being present on online platforms or that the same piece could be seen in several galleries or fairs simultaneously. Artworks have a value in themselves, for being made by an artist or conceived as such by specialists, or simply for their decontextualization and placement within the framework of a specialised space, whether an art room, museum, fair or gallery. The value should never be economic, it should be personal: how much I am willing to sacrifice for owning this work, be it time, money or relationships.

Olga Diego, performance “The bubble woman show”, 2019

What are the essential elements when creating a video art piece? How is the creative process of an artist in this discipline?

Perhaps the only indispensable element to create a video art piece is that it has images that move -many purists wouldn’t believe what I am saying! There are many people who only consider this discipline if it is a recorded image that can be reproduced, or even if a magnetic tape was used to record it. But digital technology has helped to reduce and simplify many of these processes with qualities far superior to all of its predecessor analogue equipment. This allowed a whole generation of creators linked to both film and video to appear, so there were always leaps from one discipline to another. There are also those, like me, who defend that both disciplines are very similar and that for more than a century there were already pieces of video art, even before the word video had appeared.

On the other hand, if we ignore the format in which they have been recorded, perhaps what normally defines video art is its formal, narrative and expressive freedom. They are usually short pieces, they may have experimentation in their way of recording, in their rhythm, colours or sounds that are not common in cinema, and sometimes they use several screens to tell a story, which makes the viewer build in its head the work he/she is watching.

Every artist has a very different process of creation, but perhaps in the first years of video art and almost until this last decade the creator was the also the screenwriter, cameraman, soundman, editor, producer and even seller or distributor of his/her pieces. At present, and especially since The Cremaster Cycle of Matthew Barney was introduced in this sector the creations, back in 2000, the works have become increasingly sophisticated and now it is a great team with great productions that manage to absorb the interest of museums and fairs, which forces artists to need more and more resources to be able to afford large productions that are more common in the film sector, which has significantly increased the price of video art.

 

There is a large number of languages and techniques that make up the creation of video art. Do you think that, given the technological development, new artistic languages will be generated that we still don't know?

Technology revolutionises languages again and again, as well as what the viewer expects to see. Some of the creators passionate about these advances want to introduce them in their creations and update this discipline. They vary sometimes to such an extent that they can no longer even be called video art and a new word has to appear to replace it, as was the concept of new media in the '90s or, later, virtual or augmented reality.

 

Art Madrid’25 presents One Shot Collectors, a program sponsored by One Shot Hotels that returns to the fair for the fifth consecutive edition with the mission of democratizing and promoting art collecting. Aimed at collectors, professionals in the sector, and new art lovers, the program seeks to bring the public closer to the works by offering an accessible approach supported by experts.

The program is led by Ana Suárez Gisbert, an art advisor with an outstanding track record in the art market. Her experience ranges from art valuation to personalized advisory services, helping participants find pieces that suit their tastes and budget. In addition, she combines her technical knowledge with a passion for sustainability, promoting responsible practices within the art market.


Art Madrid.19ª Edition. Galería de Cristal del Palacio de Cibeles. Courtesy image. Beatriz Maestre.


Art collecting is more than a hobby; it is a passion that goes beyond owning a piece. It involves an emotional, aesthetic, and personal journey that connects the collector with the history and creative process of the artist. A collection should evolve gradually, built over time and based on information aligned with our interests. The key is to enjoy the art, without feeling intimidated, and trusting in personal taste.

So, how do we decide what to focus on and where to direct our attention? Where do we start? How do we connect one purchase to the next? A good acquisition happens when we follow our personal tastes, learning to recognize what attracts and interests us, while staying informed before and during the process.


Professional advice from an expert is a safe and consistent way to make decisions. The collector not only seeks to enhance and maximize the quality and value of their collection but also to enrich the buying and enjoyment experience.


In the 20th edition of Art Madrid’25, a consulting space will be offered, led by Ana Suárez Gisbert, Art Advisor, a Law graduate, and a certified Art Appraiser with extensive experience in the art market. This service is designed for both experienced collectors and those looking for their first collectible piece, even for corporate collectors wishing to reflect their brand values through an art collection. The Art Madrid’25 collecting program adapts to different profiles, needs, and preferences, offering a personalized journey and guidance.


Our Art Advisor will find and prepare a selection of artworks based on the requirements and budget of each buyer, as well as assist in negotiating the acquisition.


Starting in art collecting can arise from a desire for knowledge and aesthetic, social, economic, or even business exploration.


At Art Madrid, we promote collecting for individuals and companies who wish to invest in patronage. This initiative is directed at a broad spectrum of profiles, for those who wish to start or continue their collection. Art Madrid offers a wide variety of works in areas such as photography, painting, sculpture, or installation, within a broad price range.


Whether you are an experienced collector, a beginner buyer, a curious enthusiast looking for your first piece, or a company interested in reflecting its values through art, the One Shot Collectors program offers a complete experience. Don’t miss the opportunity to find a work that meets all your expectations.


The advisory service is part of the One Shot Collectors, Collecting Program at Art Madrid’25 and is completely free for those who register in advance.

If you would like personalized advice, request more information via email at vip@art-madrid.com or sign up using the following form:


ABOUT ONE SHOT HOTELS. SPONSOR OF ART MADRID

One Shot Hotels is a boutique hotel chain that focuses on design, creativity, and prime locations in cities such as Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, San Sebastián, and Porto. Since its foundation in 2013, the brand has built a unique identity in which art, culture, and beauty are essential parts of the guest experience. Each of its hotels is designed to be much more than just accommodation: they are soulful spaces where aesthetics and artistic sensitivity are integrated into every detail.

In line with this commitment, One Shot Hotels returns as a sponsor of Art Madrid, reaffirming its support for artistic creation in all its forms. The chain sees art as a universal language that connects people and transforms spaces, and this philosophy is reflected in the design of its hotels, the selection of furniture, and the arrangement of its environments. Creativity and inspiration are experienced in every corner, offering guests an experience that goes beyond the conventional.

With an eye on the future, One Shot Hotels continues to grow and expand its presence in new destinations, while maintaining its commitment to art and culture. More than a decorative element, art is part of its essence and value proposition, creating spaces where each stay becomes an aesthetic and emotional experience.


ABOUT ANA SUÁREZ GISBERT. ART ADVISOR OF THE PROGRAM

Ana Suárez Gisbert holds a law degree from the Complutense University of Madrid, specializing in International Law and Foreign Trade of Art. She is an appraiser and judicial expert in art and antiques from Antonio de Nebrija University. She is a partner at the art appraisal firm Art Value Project.

She has carried out valuation work for important collections and insurance companies. For years, she has represented major international publications in the arts and design world, such as Frieze, Frieze Masters, and Gagosian, among others. Currently, she combines her work at the art appraisal firm with a project focused on art and sustainability for private companies and local governments.





Sponsor of ART MADRID'25

One Shot Hotels