The One Project Program, curated for the fifth consecutive year by Carlos Delgado Mayordomo, has become a true showcase for new talent. These are the 8 projects of the 13th edition of the fair.

Alejandro Monge

The European Dream 2, 2017

Polychrome galvanized steel

42 x 52cm

Alejandro Monge

Mickey L. Mouse (Age from 2 to 99), 2015

Polyurethane resin

19 x 10cm

Alejandro Monge, Candela Muniozguren, Antonyo Marest, Carlos Nicanor, Bernardo Medina, Jugo Kurihara, Aina Albo Puigserver and Vânia Medeiros are the 8 artists selected by the independent curator Carlos Delgado Mayordomo to form the One Project Program at Art Madrid'18, a program designed on young and mid-career artists with specific projects developed for their exhibition at the fair.

In One Project, 8 artists design a specific proposal for an individual stand, these 8 projects, with a resounding and coherent entity, they dialogue guided by the hand of the curator. The objective is to captivate the public, allowing them a break within the commercial context of the art fair. "One Project has served to establish a dynamic, open and polivocal relationship with those visitors interested in establishing a more deliberate and reflective view within such an overwhelming and oversaturated context of information as it is a contemporary art fair", explains Carlos Delgado Mayordomo.

Candela Muniozguren

Pink Up 01, 2016

Lacquered steel

55 x 28cm

Candela Muniozguren

Shenbazuru 01, 2017

Brass

42 x 52cm

In the edition of Art Madrid'18, One Project is made up of the following projects:

Alejandro Monge (Zaragoza, 1988) with 3 Punts Galeria (Barcelona). Endowed with a solid plastic formation and interested in the complex channels of figuration in the current creation, the recent research of Alejandro Monge seeks to investigate the economic contradictions of our present. Conformed as a series and grouped under the title "European Dream", its latest proposal is organized around the conceptualization of money as an index that modulates our understanding of the world in a context mediated by the financial crisis of 2008.

Candela Muniozguren (Madrid, 1986) with Bea Villamarín (Gijón). The sculptural work of this artist poses an intimate communication between her creative developments, where minimalist forms dominate, and the multiplicity of chromatic effects.

Antonyo Marest

Hugonnard, 2018

Spray enamel on wood

60 x 60cm

Antonyo Marest

Euclid, 2018

Spray enamel on wood

60 x 60cm

Antonyo Marest (Alicante, 1987) with Diwap Gallery (Seville). The jumps of scale, the exit of the interior of a museum to the clarity of the streets, the urban style shared with the public in the form of painting, sculpture and photography. Marest has geometry as a symbol of personal growth and positivism about architecture, line, plane and color. From Seville, DIWAP Gallery works immersed in the most current contemporary art, with the aim of approaching a demanding public and always in constant search for new contributions to the local and national art scene. With a special inclination towards young and urban art, DIWAP Gallery has been defined by the representation of its artists and their works. In short, DIWAP invests in the investigation of new lines of contemporary works and new forms of curatorial projects, preferably linked to mural art and installation.

Carlos Nicanor

Marina mimética, 2017

Bronze

67 x 35cm

Carlos Nicanor (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, 1974) with Artizar gallery (La Laguna, Tenerife). Brossanian sculptor, his creativity aspires to create works that are at the same time caustic alteration of the object and its meaning. The sculptural intensity of Nicanor is poetic in nature.

In 1989, in the center of the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, on the island of Tenerife, the Artizar art gallery began its journey, with the main objective of making known and establishing a meeting point for art in the Canary Islands. A wide range of artists from the islands has passed through its walls, from paintings of the XVIII, XIX and XX centuries, contemporary painters of recognized national and international prestige and, of course, young artists who have grown up with the gallery.

Bernardo Medina

Isla de Todos, 2017

Fiberglass

182 x 76cm

Bernardo Medina (San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1965) with Nuno Sacramento (Ílhavo, Portugal). Distinguished by his ability to integrate objects found in his travels, to create beautiful and strong abstract pieces, the artistic development of Bernardo Medina has been the result of a long process of study and experimentation from the everyday to be projected in paintings and sculptures with a strong visual poetics

The Nuno Sacramento Gallery has been active since 2003 with the opening of its first gallery in the city of Aveiro, Portugal. In 2009 he moved to the nearby city of Ilhavo, to a space specially designed for a gallery of contemporary art, where it remains until now. It annually develops around six solo and three collective exhibitions, in the disciplines of painting, sculpture, photography, installation and video.

Jugo Kurihara

Sin título 3, 2017

Japanese ink on glossy paper

24 x 18cm

Jugo Kurihara (Japan, 1977) with Pantocrator Gallery (Suzhou, China). In his works, he combines Asian and European artistic languages and successfully converts it into his own expression: images of a disturbing beauty, capable of referring unpublished worlds, of tracing complex writings and, above all, of mobilizing the spectator in front of a flowing painting that always seem to be about to stabilize in a specific iconography.

Pantocrator Gallery is a project for the dissemination and production of contemporary art by emerging international artists in any of its disciplines. Pantocrator Gallery, as a nomadic project that is, has its physical headquarters in the Chinese city of Suzhou, but it has visited cities such as Barcelona, ​​Berlin or Shanghai in which they continue to work eventually. Pantocrator Gallery works as a cultural bridge between Asia and the West.

Aina Albo Puigserver

Dubte, 2016

Wood, plywood and lacquer

109 x 109cm

Aina Albo Puigserver

Desolació, 2016

Mixed media

53 x 39cm

Aina Albo Puigserver (Palma de Mallorca, 1982) with Pep Llabrés Art Contemporani (Palma de Mallorca). Experiences that go beyond the senses, Aina Albo investigates and approaches her emotions and sensations to understand them better, giving them shape and color in an attempt to turn the abstract into concrete.

Pep Llabrés, after a long journey in the sector, opened his own space in April 2015, and since then focuses his activity in the field of contemporary art, giving visibility to young values with new languages of expression, without forgetting the contribution to the art world of artists with more experience, both national and international.

Vânia Medeiros (Salvador de Bahía, Brazil, 1984) with the RV Cultura e Arte gallery (Salvador de Bahía, Brazil). Visual artist and editor whose work deals with human and emotional maps and creates subjective cartographies and ways of graphically expressing the experiences of a traveling body in the city.

Vânia Medeiros

Intuição, 2016

Pigments on paper

42 x 60cm

Vânia Medeiros

Intuição, 2016

Pigments on paper

42 x 60cm

RV Cultura e Arte is a contemporary art gallery based in Salvador de Bahia focused on works on paper (drawing, painting, collage and printing processes) and emerging Brazilian artists. Inaugurated in 2008 by Larissa Martina and Ilan Iglesias, RV Cultura e Arte carries out a diverse annual program offering at least four exhibitions as well as workshops, talks, guided visits and viewings that foster a closer relationship with the local community, collectors and curators . Since 2011, RV Cultura e Arte has also developed an editorial project with artist books and graphic novels.

A mixed and international selection, different perspectives and starting points that find, in One Project, common frequencies in which to dialogue and share a handful of concepts. However, as Delgado Mayordomo explains, "these lines work only as a tool box to think about the work of artists without denying the relevance of other constructions".

When, in September 2012, the Spanish government decided to raise cultural VAT from the reduced rate of 8% to the standard rate of 21% (effective 1 September 2012), it was not merely implementing a fiscal adjustment measure in the midst of an economic recession. It was making a strategic decision that placed Spanish culture at a structural disadvantage compared to its European counterparts. The measure affected an industry that generated 503,700 jobs and accounted for 4% of Spain’s GDP, turning the country into one of the few in the eurozone where reduced VAT was not applied to cultural activities.

Paradoxically, that draconian increase of 13 percentage points—affecting cinema, theatre, concerts, and so on—failed to achieve its expected revenue goal; instead, it produced the opposite effect. According to data from the General Society of Authors and Editors (SGAE), the Spanish cultural industry at that time generated 503,700 jobs and represented 4% of GDP. When the Union of Business Associations of the Cultural Industry warned that the measure would result in the loss of 43 million spectators and €530 million in revenue, no one in government appeared to listen.

Iván Quesada. Playing hide and seek. Acrylic on canvas. 146 x 114 cm. 2025. Galería Aurora Vigil - Escalera.

The correction came late and in a fragmented manner. In 2017, theatre and live performances returned to a VAT rate of 10%. In July 2018, cinema joined this reduced rate. But here is where the real anomaly begins: while the audiovisual and performing arts sectors were able to breathe again, the visual arts—understood as the commercial activity carried out by galleries—remained at 21%. And they remain there today, in January 2026.

Spain currently maintains a deeply fragmented and contradictory cultural VAT system. Artists who sell their works directly are taxed at 10%. Galleries that sell those same works may be taxed at 21% under the Special Regime for Used Goods (REBU), although under this regime VAT is calculated on the margin of the transaction rather than on the total price, and not all gallery operations are necessarily covered by it. The result is Kafkaesque: the main channel for the commercialization of contemporary art often bears the highest tax burden in the entire Spanish cultural industry.

Isabel Ruiz. Sin título 4. 2025. Fotografía impresa en dibond. 100 x 160 cm. Nuno Sacramento Arte Contemporânea. Nuno Sacramento Arte Contemporânea.

The data dismantle any argument based on equity. According to the Art Basel report (The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025), 95% of art buyers acquire works through galleries, whether via their physical spaces, websites, social media, or fairs. In Spain specifically, gallery sales account for around 76% of the total value of the market. Tax-penalizing the main channel of commercialization is not tax neutrality; it is structural blindness.

The comparison with Europe is devastating. France applies a 5.5% rate to art sales, Germany 7%, Italy 5%, and more recently Portugal has joined with 6%. After Brexit, France accounts for more than 50% of art sales in the European Union and approximately between 6% and 9% of global auction sales, consolidating a dominant position that is no coincidence: it is the direct and expected result of a fiscal policy that understands art as an economic and cultural lever, not as a dispensable luxury good.

The consequences for Spain are tangible and documented. A Spanish museum that wishes to acquire a work by a Spanish artist from a Spanish gallery may be taxed at 21%; if it purchases the same work through a French gallery, in many cases it pays only 5.5%. The paradox is so grotesque that it borders on the Kafkaesque. The Spanish state fiscally penalizes its own cultural institutions for supporting the national market.

At fairs held within Spanish territory, national galleries compete with French, German, or Italian stands that can offer the same artists with a fiscal advantage of up to 16 percentage points. It should be noted, however, that in cross-border purchases within the EU, tax treatment depends on factors such as whether the museum acts as a taxable person with a VAT ID and on the nature of the transaction (domestic supply versus intra-Community supply, etc.), so this comparison serves as an illustrative example rather than a strict fiscal statement. This is not merely about competition; it is, in reality, structural dumping.

Daniel Bum. Self-Portrait II. 2025. Oil and acrylic on linen. 27 x 35 cm. CLC ARTE.

On 5 April 2022, the European Union approved Directive 2022/542, amending Directives 2006/112/EC and 2020/285 concerning the common system of VAT. This regulation explicitly allows Member States to apply reduced rates down to a minimum of 5% to “the supply of works of art, collectors’ items and antiques.” The deadline for its transposition into national legislation was 31 December 2024, with application from 1 January 2025. Spain has not transposed this directive with regard to the art market.

While France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and Belgium have already adopted reduced rates for contemporary art, Spain maintains administrative silence. More than one thousand artists, gallerists, and professionals in the sector—including representatives of Spain at the Venice Biennale and National Fine Arts Award recipients—have signed the manifesto “Spanish Visual Artists Sign for Cultural VAT NOW.”

Thus, the government’s lack of action transcends the legal sphere and becomes a serious problem of economic vision. The Professional Committee of Art Galleries of France noted that a 5.5% rate for all transactions would generate between $40 million and $650 million in additional tax revenue through employment and art sales, whereas a 20% tax could generate losses of between $320 million and $610 million in tax revenue. The experience of countries such as the Netherlands and Portugal, which raised their cultural VAT rates and later reversed course after observing the devastating effects, should serve as a lesson.

Kim Han Ki. Don't forget me. 2024. Oil on canvas. 33.4 x 24.4 cm. Banditrazos Gallery.

FFrance and the effect of an intelligent fiscal policy

The French case dismantles the argument that culture does not generate fiscal returns. After implementing a 5.5% VAT rate for art, France currently accounts for more than 50% of art sales in the European Union and between 6% and 9% of global auctions. This dominant position is undoubtedly the direct result of a fiscal policy that understands art as an economic lever.

The Professional Committee of Art Galleries of France (CPGA) documented that a 5.5% VAT rate generates between $40 million and $650 million in additional tax revenue through employment and commercial activity in the sector, while maintaining rates of 20% produces losses of between $320 million and $610 million in tax revenue due to decreased activity. The data are conclusive: lowering VAT does not reduce revenue; it increases it.

Germany experienced a similar situation. The German Federal Association of Art Galleries and Dealers (BVDG) documented that a 19% VAT rate had stifled the market and caused gallery closures. The reduction to 7% in January 2025 was justified precisely as an economic reactivation measure. Italy, after years of debate, reduced its rate from 22% to 5% in 2025, with the aim -according to Culture Minister Alessandro Giuli- of “putting an end to an anomaly that made us less attractive compared to other European countries.”

Beatriz Castela. Spectrum IX. 2025. Acrylic on table. 80 x 60 x 3.5 cm. Galería Beatriz Pereira.

One of the most frequently repeated arguments for maintaining a 21% VAT rate on art is its perception as a luxury good. This reasoning reveals a profound misunderstanding of how the contemporary art market functions. The Art Basel 2024 report documented a significant shift in collector behavior: transactions under $5,000 grew by 7%, while galleries with sales below $250,000 increased by 17%. The art market is not the exclusive domain of millionaires; that is a stigma that new generations must break. In fact, the art market is an ecosystem increasingly accessed by the middle class through the acquisition of works.

Spain’s fiscal classification treats works of art at the same rate as tobacco, alcoholic beverages, or luxury gyms (21%), while books are taxed at a super-reduced 4%, and cinema and theatre at 10%. What cultural logic justifies taxing a photography book by an artist at 4%, but an original photograph by the same artist at 21%? The answer, however ironic it may seem, does not lie in cultural coherence, but rather in administrative inertia.

Onay Rosquet. Once upon a time there was a world. 2022. Oil on canvas. 100 x 100 cm. Collage Habana,

The consequences: from talent to brain drain

The numbers are stubborn. Spain has not managed to increase its share beyond 1% of the global art market since 2009. Meanwhile, the country has more than 24,000 artists and around 11,000 jobs directly linked to the visual arts ecosystem. This critical mass of talent and professionals is subjected to a fiscal pressure that does not exist in any other Spanish cultural sector or in any other major European art market.

he result is predictable and increasingly visible: talent drain, gallery closures, relocation of operations… and the list could go on. Some gallerists absorb part of the VAT to match prices with foreign competitors; others invoice through companies in other countries for intra-European transactions. These are survival strategies, not competitiveness strategies. The Spanish art market is becoming a second-division market, not due to a lack of artistic quality, which it has in abundance, but because of persistent administrative incompetence. Ultimately, the question is not technical but ideological: does Spain consider the visual arts to be part of its strategic cultural heritage, or does it treat them as an elitist whim?

The answer is in the Official State Gazette (BOE): as long as VAT remains at 21%, the answer is clear.

Alejandro Monge. See you in the streets. 2025. Fiberglass, cement, and pigments. 170 x 85 x 50 cm. 3 Punts Galeria.

Epilogue: a missed opportunity

Spain had until 31 December 2024 to transpose Directive (EU) 2022/542 and fiscally align its art market with Europe. It did not do so. Meetings with the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Finance have been ongoing for two years. Promises are repeated. The BOE remains unchanged. Meanwhile, the transactions that take place, the fairs held at home and abroad, and the artists who (fortunately) find representation with foreign galleries serve as a stark reminder of the cost of institutional inaction for culture.

The sector is not asking for privileges; it is simply demanding fairness. It asks that contemporary art receive the same fiscal treatment as cinema, theatre, or music. It asks that Spain stop penalizing those who build its contemporary cultural heritage.

The question is not whether Spain can afford to lower cultural VAT. French, German, and Italian data show that VAT reductions generate more economic activity and therefore more indirect tax revenue. The question is whether Spain can afford to continue ignoring it. Because at this moment, every percentage point of difference with France, Germany, or Italy is not merely a cold fiscal matter—it is a decision about what kind of cultural country we want to be. And administrative silence is also a decision.

Bibliography for Reference 🙂

Spanish Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria) (2022). Council Directive (EU) 2022/542 of 5 April 2022 amending Directives 2006/112/EC and (EU) 2020/285 as regards value added tax rates. Available at: https://sede.agenciatributaria.gob.es/ Official State Gazette (BOE) (2022). Council Directive (EU) 2022/542 of 5 April 2022. Official Journal of the European Union, L 107, 6 April 2022. Available at: https://www.boe.es/buscar/doc.php?id=DOUE-L-2022-80541 EUR-Lex (2022). Council Directive (EU) 2022/542 of 5 April 2022. Available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/dir/2022/542/oj?locale=es Law 37/1992, of 28 December, on Value Added Tax. Official State Gazette. Ministry of Culture and Sport (2024). Culture Satellite Account 2022. Madrid: Ministry of Culture and Sport. ARTEINFORMADO (2025). “Directive 2022/542: New Rules for the Art Market in Europe.” January 2025. Available at: https://www.arteinformado.com/magazine/n/la-directiva-2022542-nuevas-reglas-para-el-mercado-del-arte-en-europa-7402 AVA Castilla y León (2024). “Art VAT in 16 European Union Countries: What Are Their Current and Future Reduced Rates?” Available at: https://www.avacastillayleon.es/ AVA Castilla y León (2025). “A 5% VAT in Italy? Spain’s Comparative Disadvantage with 21% VAT on the Art Market.” Available at: https://www.avacastillayleon.es/ Finestre sull’Arte (2025). “The VAT Revolution in the Italian Art Market: New Perspectives for the Sector.” July 2025. Available at: https://www.finestresullarte.info/es/ elDiario.es (2025). “Spanish Galleries Switch Off ARCO to Demand the Promised Reduction of Cultural VAT.” 5 March 2025. Available at: https://www.eldiario.es/cultura/arte/ EXIBART.es (2025). “Spanish Art Facing the Fiscal Challenge: Galleries Call for Reduced VAT to Compete in Europe.” October 2025. Available at: https://www.exibart.es/mercado/ FACUA (2017). “FACUA Demands That the Government Apply the Same VAT Reduction to Cinema as to Live Performances.” Available at: https://www.facua.org/ Infobae (2025). “Culture Reiterates It Is ‘Fully in Favor’ of Lowering the 21% VAT on Contemporary Art Purchases.” 7 March 2025. Available at: https://www.infobae.com/ ARES – Aragón Escena (2023). “For a Reduced VAT Rate in Culture.” September 2023. Available at: https://www.aresaragonescena.com/ Bonet, Lluís (2014). “Causes and Effects of the Increase in Cultural VAT: A Comparative Analysis.” The Economy Journal, 10 February 2014. Available at: https://www.theeconomyjournal.com/ FUNCAS Blog (2016). “Is It Progressive to Reduce VAT on Cinema, Theatre, or Concerts?” 4 October 2016. Available at: https://blog.funcas.es/ INEAF Tribuna (2018). “Impact of the Increase in ‘Cultural VAT.’” 27 August 2018. Available at: https://www.ineaf.es/tribuna/ Consortium of Contemporary Art Galleries. Institutional statements and the manifesto “Spanish Visual Artists Sign for Cultural VAT NOW” (2024–2025). Institute of Contemporary Art (IAC). Mateu de Ros, Rafael. “The Controversial VAT on Art.” Available at: https://www.iac.org.es/ The Art Basel and UBS Survey of Global Collecting 2025. Available at: https://www.ubs.com/global/en/our-firm/art/art-market-research.html/ “The Spanish Art Market Contracts to 2014 Levels Due to the Pandemic.” Available at: https://www.elindependiente.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/NdP-Informe-Mercado-Arte-Espan%CC%83a-2021-OS-la-Caixa-CAST.pdf

The cited sources are verifiable and publicly accessible. Figures on VAT rates in European countries have been verified with official EU sources and national tax agencies. Percentages and economic data come from published sector studies or documented institutional statements in the media.