CITY TERRITORY: PARALLEL PROGRAM ART MADRID'25

ESPACIO TECTÓNICA

The city, as Henri Lefebvre argued, is not only a physical space but also a social product, a network of relations and representations that are constantly reconfigured. Its cracks, folds and vertices are more than mere accidents of the terrain, they are material manifestations of a dialectic between inhabitation and transformation. It is in this vacillation of forms and meanings that Espacio Tectónica was conceived, a place to promote the encounter between art, territory and city.

Maternidad geomética. Jeanne de Petriconi y Guillermo G. Peydró. 2023.

Inside the fair, Espacio Tectónica is configured as a space for reflection and action on our relationship with the urban environment. A space that encourages critical thinking and artistic experimentation, exploring the tensions that shape the contemporary city. Through a programme that includes a video cycle and meetings with professionals, the space invites us to think about how the city not only receives cultural practices, but also generates and transforms them. It is a field where differences and contrasts become a source of reflection and analysis, and where art becomes a tool for understanding the social and philosophical complexities of the world we inhabit. Like tectonic plates in friction, everything that happens in Espacio Tectónica shifts, collides and challenges the visitor to generate a state of questioning about how we inhabit public space.

Circular Inscription. Tezi Gabunia.2016.

VIDEO CYCLE: CARTOGRAPHIES OF PERCEPTION

Under the title Cartographies of Perception, during the week of the fair, Espacio Tectónica will host this section, curated by PROYECTOR's Imagen en Movimiento platform, which presents a selection of international video art works that address issues such as migration, territoriality and the relationship between the peripheries and urban centres from a contemporary and analytical perspective. From the production of semiconductors in Taiwan to the mutation of the landscape in Brazil, video art becomes a critical tool that unravels the interactions between urban space, nature, the climate crisis and contemporary perceptions of the environment.

The works presented address migration, territoriality and the relationship between centres and peripheries, examining the city as a complex organism, at once a labyrinth and a tower of Babel. Through video, the artists reflect on the role of the individual in the transformation of architectural space and the dynamics of feedback between peripheries and urban centres in an interconnected world, inviting the viewer to expand his or her perception of the spaces he or she inhabits.

Guest artists: Ilaria Di Carlo (it), Tezi Gabunia (ge), Juan Carlos Bracho (esp), Magda Gebhardt (bra), Lukas Marxt (aut), lololol (Xia Lin y Sheryl Cheung) (tw) and Yuchi Hsiao (tw).

Wafer Bearer Deep Rain. lololol. Xia Lin y Sheryl Cheung. 2022

INTERVENTION CYCLE: 20 DEGREES

As part of the parallel program, Espacio Tectónica will also host the Cycle of Interventions: 20 Degrees, in which professionals from the sector: artists, researchers, professors, curators, etc. will carry out ephemeral interventions to reflect on the city as a symbolic and political space. Key issues such as migration, the evolution of urban centers and the role of the individual in the transformation and atonement of the city will be explored. Through these actions, bridges will be built between disciplines and diverse perspectives, broadening the understanding of how art feeds back into the urban fabric and how public space is a natural environment for artistic creation.

Guest artists: Susi Vetter (al), Helena Goñi (esp), Paula Lafuente (esp), Olga Mesa (esp), Elena Arroyo (esp), Amaya Hernández (esp), Deneb Martos (esp), Guillermo G. Peydró (esp) & Jeanne de Petriconi (fr), Sergio Muro (esp) y Javier Olivera (esp).

La Pagoda de Fisac II. Amaya Hernández. 2022.

Espacio Tectónica functions as a dynamic node within Art Madrid. Its rhizomatic character allows art not only to inscribe itself in the territory, but also to transform it, infiltrating its meanings and re-signifying it. It is a meeting point and a space for critical thinking that welcomes visitors and invites them to discover new ways of inhabiting and perceiving the urban environment.

ABIERTO INFINITO. LO QUE EL CUERPO RECUERDA. CICLO DE PERFORMANCE X ART MADRID'26

Art Madrid, committed to creating a discursive platform for artists working within the field of performance and action art, presents Abierto Infinito: lo que el cuerpo recuerda, a proposal inspired by Erving Goffman’s ideas in The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (Amorrortu Editores, Buenos Aires, 1997).

The project unfolds within a theoretical framework that directly engages with these premises, conceiving social interaction as a stage of carefully modulated performances designed to influence others’ perceptions. Goffman argues that individuals deploy both verbal and involuntary expressions to guide the interpretation of their behavior, sustaining roles and façades that define the situation for those who observe.

The body — the first territory of all representation — precedes both word and learned gesture. Human experience, conscious and unconscious alike, is inscribed within it. Abierto Infinito: lo que el cuerpo recuerda departs from this premise: representation inhabits existence itself, and life, understood as a succession of representations, transforms the body into a space of constant negotiation over who we are. In this passage, boundaries blur; the individual opens toward the collective, and the ephemeral acquires symbolic dimension. By inhabiting this interstice, performance simultaneously reveals the fragility of identity and the strength that emerges from encounter with others.

PERFORMANCE: OFF LINE. JIMENA TERCERO

March 7 | 7:00 p.m. Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles.

OFF LINE is a performance piece that reflects on the fragility of the body in the digital age. Our relationship with the outside world is mediated by a screen, which distances us further and further from physical contact and interpersonal relationships. Focusing on creating a digital identity causes the body to distance itself from the physical world and lose its memory.

Hyperconnectivity and fragmented attention lead to a more passive physical existence, characterised by reduced spontaneous movement and less direct sensory interaction. This raises fundamental questions: how is the concept of presence redefined when our relationship with the world relies on technological mediation? What will the experience of the body be like in a future where virtuality predominates over the physical? There is a risk of progressive bodily passivity: bodies that remain still, whose activity is determined by devices and whose memory is stored digitally. The fragmentation of physical experience and the primacy of technological representation create a scenario in which, although the body is visible, it is displaced from its original function as an agent of perception and action.

This conceptual framework invites reflection on the impact of digitisation on corporeality, memory and social relationships, and on the vulnerability and inertia experienced by bodies in environments that are increasingly mediated by technology.

ABOUT JIMENA TERCERO

Jimena Tercero (Madrid, 1998) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work explores the boundaries of the female body, identity, and the subconscious. She uses performance, video, and painting to address concepts such as memory, tangibility, and play. Tercero trained in painting with Lola Albín and in analog photography at Cambridge in 2014. She studied audiovisual direction from 2018 to 2020 with renowned figures such as Víctor Erice and the production company El Deseo. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Creative Direction at ELISAVA. She completed her performance training at La Juan Gallery. In 2011, she was part of the children's jury at the Isfahan Film Festival in Iran.

Her directed works include Private (2016) and Paranoid (2021), which were exhibited at the Aspa Contemporary Gallery. She has also worked on projects such as Yo, mi, me, conmigo (2023, Teatros del Canal), Inside Voices (2021, Conde Duque with Itziar Okariz), and La última regla (La Juan Gallery). She has directed fashion films for publishers and brands such as Puma, Dior, and Dockers. She has also provided art direction for artists such as Sen Senra and Jorge Drexler. Additionally, she directed the documentary Also Here for ArtforChange–La Caixa. She presented Out of View (Nebula Gallery), EDEN (White Lab Gallery), and Navel Bite (Sinespacio). She participates in residencies such as Medialab with Niño de Elche and Miguel Álvarez Fernández. In 2025, she will be part of the Special Jury of the Asian Film Fest in Barcelona and the International Cultural Museum of Assilah Art Residency in Morocco).