Marina Tellme. Guest artist at OPEN BOOTH X LIQUITEX. Courtesy of the artist.

OPEN BOOTH X LIQUITEX

"REUNIÓN DE GENTE IMPORTANTÍSIMA"

BY MARINA TELLME

Art Madrid'24 returns to the Art Week and celebrates its 19th edition. From March 6 to 10, 2024, the Crystal Gallery of the Cibeles Palace will become the epicenter where the most innovative and current artistic trends of the national and international scene will gather. To celebrate its 19th edition, Art Madrid presents a General Galleries Program and a renewed Parallel Program. Both proposals are aimed at enriching the presence of an event that has already surpassed its satellite season, consolidating itself in each edition as a reference appointment in the agendas of the general and specialized public.

In this edition, Art Madrid presents exclusively the OPEN BOOTH X LIQUITEX. A section that opens with the installation: "Reunión de gente importantísima" by the artist Marina Tellme.

OPEN BOOTH X LIQUITEX thus becomes a sort of fleeting home that distinguishes and makes our event a place to stay for a few days. A meeting of very important people is a work that will certainly generate synergies with the public, expanding its sense as an intelligently critical work and serving as a space for reflection, in a close and multipurpose event like Art Madrid.

Artistic practices that are born of collaboration, that promote the generation of work spaces and dialogue between the different agents in the sector, are essential to promote a turn of the screw in the transformation and renovation of the cultural fabric. The constant evolution of art demands a continuous dialogue between artists, galleries and audiences. In our 19th edition, we intend to be catalysts for this dialogue, transcending traditional boundaries and embracing new artistic expressions. We firmly believe in the capacity of art to influence society, and we want to be agents of change by facilitating the convergence of diverse artistic languages in this new edition.

"Reunión de dente importantísima". Marina Tellme. Project for Art Madrid. 2024.

The site specific "Reunión de gente importantísima", conceived especially for Art Madrid, proposes a subversive view of the context of social relations established in the art world. With a touch of humor, a naive aesthetic and an intentionality that could seem candid, the work represents a meeting of people in a VIP area as a satire or comic strip.

"Reunión de dente importantísima". Marina Tellme. Project for Art Madrid. 2024.

Surrounded by a red velvet cordon, where any spectator can enter and live this experience, the characters enjoy their hedonistic posture, differentiating themselves from the rest by the mere fact of belonging to a select club of chosen ones. However, to the surprise of the privileged, we have all been invited to this meeting of very important people. As you pass by, you will feel as if you were entering a forest, you will discover a peculiar multitude of oversized characters, fashionistas, cool people, chic, art geeks, who talk ad nauseam about apparently crucial issues - for the salvation of the planet - but we do not understand a single word.

"Reunión de dente importantísima". Marina Tellme. Project for Art Madrid. The Chin Chin Bitches. 2024.

One more edition of Art Madrid joins Liquitex to strengthen their mutual commitment to contemporary creation. The world's leading brand in professional acrylics is the sponsor of the new OPEN BOOTH X LIQUITEX (Stand D2), which will host the artist Marina Tellme.

Marina Tellme in her studio. Courtesy of the artist. 2024.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

MARINA TELLME, 1995, Almería.

Graduated in Fine Arts at the Alonso Cano Faculty (Granada), Master in Film Directing at TAI and qualified as a voice-over actress at EDM (Madrid). Her work has been exhibited at Humboldt University (Berlin), García Lorca Art Center (Granada), Bless Hotel (Madrid), Instituto de la Mujer de Almería, selected in the Art Sur Festival of Art in Action (Córdoba) or Femujer de Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic), among others. Her work is the result of her passion for telling stories. Her paintings, sculptures and installations represent (as if it were a frame of an animated film) a scenery with characters and circumstances, mostly comic and naive style, but with room for social criticism; showing generational concerns such as the difficulties of access to decent work or housing, the figure of women in the art world and numerous burdens that appear in our lives when we grow up: such as anxiety, impostor syndrome or social phobia.

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.