For the third consecutive year, Art Madrid once again is engaged with Cultura Inquieta. Official media partner of this edition, Cultura Inquieta is one of the most interested and involved media in current culture. This year it invites all visitors to take their most creative side into its booth at the fair.

The two walls of the Cultura Inquieta stand began as two blank canvases, ready to welcome all kinds of artistic manifestations and encouraging free expression and creativity without limits. Artists present at the fair as well as visitors of all ages have participated ... In fact, we can all be creative and proof of this is that there is hardly any free space left to intervene in their booth. However, all those who want to be part of these collective murals will surely, with some ingenuity, find some way to leave their mark. In addition, at their booth, you can learn about other projects, such as the creative products they offer from the online store and those they have selected in order for you to see them at Art Madrid: art pills, design and inspiration.

Photo. Melisa Medina.

The Cultura Inquieta team presents "our own space, a couple of square meters where we synthesize our universe to channel, approach and soak up everything that happens. A space, overall for sharing. Sharing time, words and creativity. A place to rest for a few minutes, talk, laugh and reflect "with the ultimate goal" of bringing art to everyone absolutely".

Some of the reasons that motivate this type of proposal are so many that Cultura Inquieta compares them with the own principles of art. Unity or harmony, because, as explained by them, they are integrated, so naturally, that they come to lose sight of the limits imposed by space; variety, because they love having the chance to look out through an infinite window of inspiration, an exercise that they can feed by touring Art Madrid, where they find the production of both emerging artists and consecrated artists, "an almost mystical experience"; or balance, because "we are aware that life is what happens between 0 and 100 years, so we try to look with the eyes of children, and to children we try to give wings so that they can paint, dream, and believe in a much better future through art".

Photo. Miguel Mazuelo Álvarez.

Other reasons that support its proposal for the fair are related to contrast because, like Art Madrid, they enjoy the polyhedral side of things; proportion, because "we can not stop looking up towards the wonderful glass vault that surrounds everything. At the works, at the artists, at you, at us too, and then, is when the proportions of beauty escape us"; the emphasis and the enthusiasm of participating in a fair with which they share so many values and aspirations; and finally, for movement, for that "effervescent flow of people, ideas, concepts and messages that we share with artists, gallerists, visitors, friends ... during these five days".

Like Art Madrid, Cultura Inquieta has among its main objectives the spreading of the quality the current creation has, specialized in the promotion of young talent. Art, culture, trends, photography, trends or lifestyle; Cultura Inquieta is one of the most consulted and reputed digital portals worldwide. It is also the organizer of one of the major Spanish music festival, one of the most important annual events on the Madrid agenda, which this year celebrates its tenth edition beginning at end of June. From Art Madrid we encourage you to participate in the simple but so inclusive and exciting proposal of Cultura Inquieta: dare to express your creativity.

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.