Intercessions. Performance Cycle X Tara For Women. Parallel Program. Art Madrid'24

INTERCESSIONS. PERFORMANCE CYCLE X TARA FOR WOMEN

In his Poetics of Space, Gaston Bachelard states: "One must be in the present, in the present of the image, in the minute of the image: if there is a philosophy of poetry, this philosophy must be born and reborn with the motif of a dominant verse, in total adherence to an isolated image, and precisely in the ecstasy of the novelty of the image”.

In our present time, a moment of homogenized images, we find a problem that is expressed in the need to listen to the voices that come from otherness. In those other places, it is still possible to find the novelty of the image and the poetry of the image that announces diversity. Everything seems known or familiar if we explore the possibilities of representing a concise idea of the present, of the moment that obliges us to act. From here, contemporary art serves as a pretext to transform society, making use of its goodness as a healing instrument and giving voice to those who turn their vocation into dominant verse, to break into the scenario in which everything happens and takes place, thus making them part of what is happening.

Are we capable of putting ourselves in the place of the other? Do we use our privileged place to intercede for others? How often do we drop our "I" to support the " We"? What does it mean to work for the common good?

All these questions are answered in the exercise of intercession. How people intercede for one another in order to change the course of events, how intercession has the purpose of finding a solution for the improvement of our fellows, how the work and the commitment of those for whom we intercede are brought into a common place.

Thus was born Intercessions, a Performance Cycle X Tara For Women, part of the Parallel Program of Art Madrid'24, featuring artists Estel Boada (Mataró, Barcelona, 1991), Teresa Búa (Muxía, A Coruña, 1991), Sara Domínguez (Málaga, 1993) and Mónica Egido (Salamanca, 1994). The main purpose of the cycle is to bet on projects that reflect our times. The performance in its multiple dramaturgical expressions, especially those that use the body as a vehicle to deconstruct and observe from a critical perspective, the relationship of human beings with their natural environment, are conducive to relate the truth of our time.

Mónica Egido. Still from the FOMO Project. 2024.

Like hands to the body, eyes to the soul, earth to life, and art to society, the powerful metaphor that represents the exercise of interceding for the other turns the stage of the fair into a device capable of activating and communicating the concerns of the invited artists and extending them to the public in a gesture of empathy..

The treatment of human relations makes the carnal habitat a reservoir of affection for the surrounding reality. To intercede for others, to propitiate an intercession with the objective of achieving a benefit for an entity or subject that dynamizes our action, is the leitmotif of this performance cycle, which appropriates one of the most important artistic moments of the year and transforms it into a catapult of projection for the four participating artists.

Estel Boada. Performance of Pfff Historia d'una Fitball. Documentation. 2024.

Intercessions proposes a sharp look at the symbolic relationship between human beings and their context, turning the body into a reservoir of affections that enables intercession and the act of interceding for other entities or subjects. In essence, this initiative seeks to promote reflections that transcend the surface of everyday experience, challenging prejudices and entering into the construction of an artistic legacy forged from experience stripped of conventionalisms.

The selection of artists responds to the need to highlight the relevance of works that, through performance, have a strong impact on the collective conscience regarding the challenges and dangers that threaten our society and the way we relate to others. The human body, considered as a motor and a link with the artistic and natural essence, becomes the epicenter of the conceptual exploration proposed by this program, transcending the ordinary to unravel the complexities of the intercession between the individual and his environment.

During the days of the fair, Intercessions will transform the exhibition space into an activating device powerfully communicating the urgency with which humanity must approach the construction of its future legacy. Just as the hands are to the body, the eyes to the soul, and the earth to life, this cycle of performances affirms that art, in its maximum expression, intercedes for us, and represents the fundamental notion that will guide the participants in their search for the transcendence and meaning of their works. Intercessions is thus established as a manifesto of performance, a critical and transformative instrument forging a provocative and necessary dialogue in the context of Art Madrid'24.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Mónica Egido (Salamanca, 1994) is a visual artist with a background in physiotherapy and specialization in neuroscience of chronic pain and obstetrics. She has excelled in the field of photography, being selected for Futures Photography 2023 and awarded a grant by PhotoEspaña. Her work, exhibited in various spaces in Europe, addresses different issues of neuroscience in relation to health, using art as a mechanism for dissemination, as in her latest project FOMO, where she talks about the impact of permanent anxiety on physical and mental health. Her piece Vacío reflects on the feeling of dissatisfaction and unhappiness that many people of the millennial generation suffer from.

Mónica Egido. Guest artist of Intercessions. Performance Cycle X Tara For Women.

Mónica Egido presents at Art Madrid'24 her performance: VACÍO. From the series FOMO

Vacío is a reflection of the sense of dissatisfaction and constant unhappiness that many people belonging to the millennial generation suffer from.

Mónica Egido. Still from Vacío. FOMO Project. 2024.

Sara Gema Domínguez (Malaga, 1993) is an artist with a background in Fine Arts and a MA in Interdisciplinary Artistic Production and Research. She specializes in action art, exploring the relationship between art and life. The performance Bingo de Artista satirizes and criticizes the processes of artistic professionalization, inviting the public to participate as potential creators in a game that questions chance and artistic recognition.

Sara Gema Domínguez. Guest artist of Intercessions. Performance Cycle X Tara For Women.

Sara Gema Domínguez presents at Art Madrid'24 her performance: BINGO DE ARTISTA

Chance is a constant in our lives, and the context in which an artist is born or develops is essential to determine their position in the market or mere recognition.

Sara Gema Domínguez. Bingo de artista. Documentation. 2024.

Teresa Búa (Muxía, A Coruña, 1991) combines fine arts, fashion design and craftsmanship in her artistic projects. Her work, represented in national and international exhibitions, focuses on self-knowledge, Galician cultural heritage and digital fashion.

Teresa Búa. Guest artist of Intercessions. Performance Cycle X Tara For Women.

Teresa Búa presents at Art Madrid'24 her performance: MATERNIDAD 4. AMAMANTAR

This work invites us to witness the beauty of maternal experience as a source of creativity in the intercession of life and production as interconnected forces in human experience.

Teresa Búa. Maternidad 4. Amamantar. Documentation. 2024.

Estel Boada (Mataró, Barcelona, 1991) is a multifaceted artist who addresses past, present and future issues in an ironic and burlesque way. With a background in Fine Arts, her work includes design, drawing, performance, among others…

Estel Boada. Guest artist of Intercessions. Performance Cycle X Tara For Women.

Estel Boada presents at Art Madrid'24 her performance: STAND, BY ME

Stand, by Me is a performance that wants to address the responsibility and the position of an art fair stand from an ironic and burlesque point of view.

Estel Boada. Stand, By Me. Documentation. 2024.

PERFORMANCES

Wednesday, 6 March / 19:00 h - Mónica Egido - VACÍO

Thursday, 7 March / 19:00 h - Sara Gema Domínguez - BINGO DE ARTISTA

Friday, 8 March / 17:00 h - Teresa Búa - MATERNIDAD 4. AMAMANTAR

Saturday, 9 March / 19:00 h - Estel Boada - STAND, BY ME

The performance cycle Intercessions. X Tara For Women is supported by the Foundation, whose mission is to empower talented women around the world to promote sustainable economic and social development. Its vision is to build a global community without borders, where talented women find the necessary empowerment and access to the essential tools to achieve success in their endeavors and artistic expressions. True to its values, it joins Art Madrid in this edition to contribute to the much-needed work of representing the talent of women artists in the national contemporary art exhibition circuit.

NEBRIJA UNIVERSITY ASSERTS AESTHETIC INTELLIGENCE IN THE FACE OF THE ALGORITHMIC ERA AT ART MADRID’26

The Nebrija Space hosts a curatorial project that proposes a critical alternative to the automation of creative thought.

Nebrija University is participating in the 21st edition of Art Madrid with a curatorial project that offers a critical reflection on the relationship between art education, the market, and technology. Under the concept of Aesthetic Intelligence, the proposal positions itself as an alternative to the algorithmic logic of Artificial Intelligence, prioritizing sensitivity, gesture, materiality, and experience as forms of knowledge that cannot be automated.

At a historic moment in which Artificial Intelligence is bursting onto the scene in all areas of cultural production, generating both fascination and concern, Nebrija University is committed to defending those dimensions of the artistic experience that remain irreducible to algorithmic logic. This is not a question of denying the impact of technology or adopting a technophobic stance, but rather of identifying and defending those areas of knowledge that require the presence of the body, sensitivity, gesture, and lived experience.

Álvaro Fernández. Remember/Forget. Mixed media on canvas. 40 x 60 cm. 2026.

The central concept of the proposal is that of Aesthetic Intelligence, understood as a form of knowledge that integrates the sensory, the affective, the intuitive, and the cultural. In contrast to the logic of Artificial Intelligence, based on algorithms, recognition patterns, and the capacity for mass replication, Aesthetic Intelligence prioritizes dimensions that remain anchored in the unique human experience: the unique and unrepeatable gesture, the physical presence of the body in the creative act, the material texture of the supports and pigments, and the temporality of the creative process.

This claim takes on special importance in a context in which generative AI is capable of producing images in a matter of seconds, processing millions of previous visual references to synthesize new compositions. However, what the machine cannot replicate is precisely what constitutes the core of the aesthetic experience. The affective resonance of a specific color applied with a certain pressure on a specific surface, the intuitive decision that arises from the dialogue between the artist and the material, or the productive error that opens up unexpected paths.

Aesthetic Intelligence is thus understood as a form of epistemic resistance, a defense of those ways of knowing the world that cannot be automated because they are constitutively linked to the embodied, situated, and temporal experience of creative subjects.

Pablo Padilla Sadurni. ST. Repaired passe-partout and acrylic. 18 x 18 x 48 cm. 2026.

Under the provocative neologism NotanIA SipedagogIE, which encapsulates the conceptual proposal in its very formulation: “Not so much AI, more pedagogy.” This linguistic construction, which plays with the presence and absence of fragments of the words “Artificial Intelligence” and “pedagogy,” signals a clear stance on the role of artistic training in today's technological context.

It proposes a critical pedagogy that does not reject technology but refuses to subordinate artistic learning processes to the logic of efficiency, optimization, and reproduction that characterize algorithmic systems. Faced with the temptation to use AI as a shortcut or substitute for the creative process, this pedagogy vindicates the formative value of trial and error, material experimentation, and time devoted to exploration without a predetermined goal.

A pedagogy that is also defined as empathetic, in the sense that it recognizes and values the affective and relational dimension of artistic learning, which does not understand creation as an isolated individual act but as a process that involves emotional resonances, symbolic exchanges, and collective construction of meaning. The stand itself, conceived as a choral work, embodies this understanding of creation as a shared experience.

Verónica Bergua Tabuyo. Cartography of Uncle Pablo. Digital video. Edition: 1/5. 2:40 min. 2026.

The methodology proposed for the project is as rigorous as it is open to experimentation. Each participating student begins their creative process by poetically appropriating a verse, a stanza that will serve as the conceptual and emotional seed of the work. The choice of poetry, as a form of language that condenses multiple and ambiguous meanings, that works with sonic and visual resonances, that suggests rather than describes, constitutes an ideal starting point for a project that champions the ineffable, that which cannot be fully translated into code.

Starting with the selection of a verse, each artist has developed a mood board conceived as a board of atmospheres and, at the same time, as a sensitive cartography of the process. This resource allows the imagery of the verse to be expanded through objects, images, textures, materials, and other elements that resonate with the initial poetic experience. It is a tool that makes the process of intersemiotic translation visible: the transition from verbal to visual language, from textual to material, highlighting the transformations and shifts that occur along the way.

The next step involves developing a two-dimensional work that deliberately avoids written language. This restriction seeks to prioritize visual and material exploration over textual narrative, relying on the communicative power of form, color, texture, and composition. The work must speak for itself, without the need for verbal explanations to mediate between the piece and the viewer.

The creative process is conceived from an experimental logic similar to that of a laboratory, where trial, error, correction, and rehearsal are an integral part of the method. No predetermined result is sought; rather, the work is allowed to emerge from the dialogue between the initial intention and the possibilities (and resistances) of the materials.

Blanca Lanaspa. Witness 176.8. Mixed media ceramics. 40.8 x 176.8 cm. 2026.

The booth that houses the Nebrija Space is conceived as a work of art in itself, with a choral and transitory character. Inspired by Madrid's SER Zones, those areas of regulated temporary parking, the exhibition space is designed as a territory of symbolic transit, a place of ephemeral occupation that invites reflection on presence, desire, and temporality.

This metaphor of SER Zones is particularly powerful, because just as these urban spaces allow for the temporary occupation of public space under certain conditions, the stand is presented as a territory that artists temporarily occupy during the fair, establishing a dialogue between permanence (the works as physical objects that will remain after the event) and transience (the specific spatial configuration that exists only during the days of the fair).

The choral nature of the project underscores the collective dimension of artistic creation. It is not a sum of individualities but a polyphony of voices that intertwine, resonate, and dialogue with each other. Each individual work maintains its autonomy but takes on new meanings in relation to the others, generating a fabric of visual, conceptual, and affective correspondences.

Marialex Arcaya. The wine cellar. Acrylic on wood. 80 x 160 cm. 2026.

The project brings together the work of seven students from the Fine Arts Degree program at Nebrija University: Marialex Arcaya develops “La bodega” (The Cellar), a reflection on everyday objects as containers of memory and identity. Based on the verse: "And at the bottom of my favorite beach bag there is sand, rusty coins, and a receipt for ice cream that no longer exists. Summer can be preserved in layers", the artist explores Venezuelan bodegas as spaces of nostalgia and belonging. Through a series of acrylic paintings on canvas depicting products and packaging, she investigates how the most mundane objects can function as repositories of memories and markers of cultural identity. Her work raises questions about what we erase and what we preserve, about how the passage of time transforms both objects and ourselves, celebrating the capacity for rebirth and transformation that characterizes the human experience.

Laura Nogales. Another Spring. Acrylic and embroidery on canvas. 94.5 x 38.6 inches. 2026.

Laura Nogales participates with “Another Spring,” a textile installation that explores the decomposition and deconstruction of the concept of femininity in a transitory environment: the shower. Her work, constructed from scraps, recycled clothing remnants, stockings, and various types of fillings, forms an abstract mass that represents decomposed femininity in constant mutation. The drain functions as a symbolic element that swallows everything, witnessing intimate transformations. Nogales addresses how femininity as a shared experience suffers great ups and downs in the current context, where machismo is making a strong comeback in the media and social networks. Her textile proposal generates emotional ambiguity in the viewer, who may feel attracted or repelled by the figure, reflecting the contradictions inherent in the experience of constructing and defending female identity in an adverse context. Her work takes as its reference the fragment of the poem: “Above the shower, the steam draws maps that fade away".

Inés López. Sedentary. Digital photography. 30 x 40 cm. 2026.

Inés López presents Sedentario, a work inspired by the verse: “There, dust particles are an archive in suspension.” The project reflects on the capacity of domestic spaces to preserve what the body forgets when they cease to be inhabited. The photographic series is set inside a house under construction, in rooms suspended between use and abandonment, where absence manifests itself as a silent accumulation of matter, traces, and time. Architectural plans and projections in an unfinished building expand the proposal, establishing a dialogue between the projected space and the lived space, between what was once inhabited and what has not yet begun to be inhabited. The work thus proposes a meditation on the transience of the body in the face of the silent persistence of architecture.

Verónica Bergua Tabuyo. Cartography of Uncle Pablo. Digital video. Edition: 1/5. 2:40 min. 2026.

Verónica Bergua presents “Cartografía del tío Pablo” (Uncle Pablo's Cartography), a deeply personal project that explores the relationship between compulsive hoarding, mental health, and emotional territory. Through a video installation that combines minimalist photography of objects taken from the room of her uncle, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, Diogenes syndrome, and kleptomania, Bergua constructs a visual map of mental chaos materialized in physical space. The sequence of images, presented at varying speeds, generates an experience of anxiety in the viewer that reflects the nature of compulsive hoarding. Her work invites us to reflect on our own relationship with objects, on the boundaries between need and attachment, and on how the territory we inhabit can become a mirror of our mental territory. His proposal is inspired by the verses: “Under the bed... objects accumulate that we don't remember losing.” “A museum without texts or labels: the drawer of cables from broken devices.” “The box of expired medicines holds the history of ailments that no longer hurt.”

Blanca Lanaspa. Witness 176.8. Mixed media ceramics. 40.8 x 176.8 cm. 2026.

Blanca Lanaspa presents “Testigo 176.8,” a work based on the verse: "The coat rack in the entrance holds what we are before we enter and after we leave. A vertical threshold where transitions hang.“ Her proposal takes the form of a ceramic pegboard, a combinatorial board with removable pieces of different surfaces, glazes, and textures. Each element functions as a ”sensitive accident," the result of processes involving both aesthetic planning and material chance. The pieces explore states of matter: sprouts, leaks, overflows, erosions, cracked surfaces, contractions, and expansions. The tactile and interactive nature of the work invites the viewer to engage with it directly through their body. Accompanied by a mood board documenting the ceramic research process, the piece celebrates the unpredictability of materials and the beauty of the unsystematic.

Pablo Padilla Sadurni. ST. Detail. Repaired mat and acrylic. 7.1 x 7.1 x 18.7 inches. 2026.

Pablo Padilla presents “Untitled,” an architectural sculpture inspired by the verse: “The mismatched sock is not lost: it inhabits a place that does not exist.” Conceived as a spatial analogy for the search for fulfillment, the piece proposes an architectural archetype that refers to the world of ideas; an imagined place, necessary and yet unattainable. Constructed from thin cardboard, the work takes the form of impossible, labyrinthine structures inhabited by scale figures that wander through corridors, staircases, and dead-end rooms. These spaces, simultaneously tense and contemplative, combine the romanticism of introspection with the inhospitable coldness of brutalism. The work creates a surreal atmosphere that oscillates between peaceful and tense, inviting a sensory and emotional experience of shared loneliness, isolation, and the search for mental refuges that do not exist in the physical world.

Álvaro Fernández. Remember/Forget. Detail. Mixed media on canvas. 40 x 60 cm. 2026.

Álvaro Fernández presents “Remember/Forget,” a work inspired by the verse: "In the elevator mirror, two people are reflected without touching each other. What separates them is not air: it is the possibility of saying nothing." Through hybrid works that combine manual transfers on fabric with digitally altered photographs, Fernández explores silence, shared presence, and the coexistence of intimate worlds that do not touch. His transfers, made using gel plates or lavender oil, generate unstable and deteriorated images, like memories in the process of fading. The fragmentation and displacement of photographic elements multiply the scenes, creating layers of overlapping temporality. His work materializes the fragility of memories and the power of silence as a space for nonverbal intimacy.

Blanca Lanaspa. Witness 176.8. Mixed media ceramics. 40.8 x 176.8 cm. 2026.

At a time when the debate on Artificial Intelligence and artistic creation is intensifying, with positions ranging from uncritical enthusiasm to outright rejection, Nebrija University's proposal for Art Madrid'26 offers a third way, a critical stance that does not deny technological reality but clearly defends those dimensions of the artistic experience that remain irreducible to automation.

The concept of Aesthetic Intelligence proposes an epistemological alternative that recognizes the validity of forms of knowledge based on sensitivity, intuition, bodily experience, and affective resonance. These are not “minor” or subsidiary forms of knowledge with respect to rational or algorithmic knowledge, but equally valid modalities that are absolutely fundamental in the field of artistic creation.

This curatorial project thus represents a valuable contribution to the contemporary debate on technology and culture, proposing that university art education should not be limited to preparing students to adapt to the market or the tools available, but should equip them with critical skills, material sensitivity, and awareness of the specificity of their practice.

Art Madrid'26 will thus host a proposal that, beyond its individual aesthetic quality, constitutes a collective reflection on the present and future of artistic creation, on the role of educational institutions in training new generations of artists, and on the need to defend spaces for experimentation, slowness, and materiality in an accelerated and increasingly virtualized world. Through this project, Nebrija University reaffirms the irreplaceable value of Aesthetic Intelligence as a form of knowledge and as a practice of resistance against algorithmic homogenization, committing to a pedagogy that places sensory experience, bodily gesture, and affective resonance at the center as fundamental dimensions of the human condition.