Art Madrid'25 – One Project program of Art Madrid\'15

De la serie Crashroom. Rocío Verdejo.

 

ONE PROJECT program maintains its commitment of promoting individual projects of  leading creators and with a particular language. With 'solo-show' format and under the direction of a curator, ONE PROJECT has its own program and space. In addition, curating allows us to give a more intimate and more personal perspective, focusing in special and specific realities with the signing, in this case, of the prolific and elegant independent curator Carlos Delgado Mayordomo.

Máquinas Voladoras. Eduardo Alonso.
 
 
One Project is a specific area within the fair Art Madrid which includes the work of eight artists, young and mid-career, with strong presence in both formal and conceptual Spanish exhibition scene and whose works move within a very strong reflection about the process of building the plastic image.
 
The artists selected for ONE PROJECT in Art Madrid'15 are:
 
Santiago Talavera, with Moproo Gallery (Shanghai, China).
 
Eduardo Alonso, with the gallery Coll Blanc Espai d'Art (Culla, Castellón).
 
Robert Ferrer i Martorell, with Pep Llabrés Gallery (Palma de Mallorca, Mallorca).
 
Carlos Cartaxo, with BAT Gallery (Madrid)
 
Miguel Ángel Moreno Carretero, with La Fábrica Gallery (Madrid).
 
Hugo Bruce, with the gallery Espacio Valverde (Madrid).
 
Alejandra Sampedro, with About Art Gallery (Pontevedra).
 
Rocio Verdejo, with Art Deal Project (Barcelona).
Into the Light. Hugo Bruce.
 
The set is organized under a reflection that does not seek a unique narrative, but which sits under the open and flexible definition of the term "artifact".
 
In this sense, all artists have developed clearly built devices, result of a reasoned production process that does not hide its artificiality and its measurement accuracy. Plastic buildings whose poetry is their utility when critically analyze issues such as body, violence, landscape, death, nature, technology or art history dimension.
 
Panofobia. Alejandra Sampedro.
 
 
Questioning the senses received for listening to their shortcomings and propose alternative routes that travel is the way these projects which, taken together, reveal something hybrid, multifaceted and polyphonic.
 
One Project means, ultimately, the possibility of an observatory from which to contemplate some salient features of the uncertain, troubled, vulnerable and exciting situation of artistic creation that is currently being developed in Spain.

 

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.