Art Madrid'25 – PAINTING LIVE, PERFORMANCE AND MUSIC... MUCH MORE THAN A FAIR

Liquitex cadmium free

Our sponsor Liquitex has organized a complete 5-day calendar in which, with different actions, he presents his # Cadmium-free color collection. From Wednesday 21 to Sunday 25, at 12 noon each day, they invite you to design and make your own pins. At 4pm, every day of the fair is also the moment of the LQ CHALLENGE, the blind tests to see if you are able to differentiate the cad-free colors, and at 18h live painting! With the artists ambassadors of Liquitex, Rebeca Khamlichi, Miguel Torrus and Isabel Martínez ... but they also want the public to participate.

Galerías Invisibles

On Wednesday the 21st from 6.30pm in the afternoon, the INVISIBLE GALLERY, the action device that Invisible Pedagogies detonates in the space of the fair as a "setting in scene ", a" performative gesture "to activate conversations, negotiations, agreements, ideas ... and make Art Madrid a PRODUCER OF KNOWLEDGE, a CONTEMPORARY AGORA.

I am suarez by okuda

On Thursday the 22nd Art Madrid's agenda is well completed because at noon on the stand of our sponsor SUAREZ the I am Suarez jewelry collection is presented by OKUDA, with the presence of the artist, a jeweler craftsman and a surprise guest! In the afternoon, at 6pm. in the Martín Begué Room of CentroCentroCibeles we celebrated the round table ARTISTS IN EDUCATION, with Veo arte en todos pArtes, Marta Pérez Ibáñez (Univ. de Nebrija), Rufino Ferreras (EducaThyssen.org) and the artists Jose Antonio Vallejo and Carmen Hidalgo de Cisneros.

And las but not least, starting at 6:30 p.m., the ONE PROJECT space designed by Antonyo Marest and the Diwap gallery will be filled with Tropicalism, with MENEO music and La Virgen beers.

Tropicalismo

On Friday 23 and Saturday 24 between 6:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m., we organized the SIGNATURE OF POSTERS of our guest artist AM18, Okuda San Miguel. And the same Saturday, from 7pm until the closing of doors, as a celebration of this 13th edition of Art Madrid, the lounge area and the entire space of the fair will become the scene of the happenings "Veladura / Varnished / Enameled" developed by the artists Pablo Durango, Ignacio Tejedor and the collective Somos Nosotros with the students of the workshop Press INTRO to see what happens in the program # ArteyEducación de Art Madrid.

Okuda San Miguel

Performances, music, art, criticism and humor for a fair open to all audiences.

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.