Claudia Schiffer, Pachi Santiago or Claudio? Friday, March 1 at 7:00 p.m. You can enjoy the performance "Copying Claudia" by the artist Pachi Santiago at Art Madrid'19. Attendees can enter first hand the world of an artist who ironically plays with stereotypes and reflects on gender issues, the so-called fake fame as well as fashion.

Pachi Santiago, "Cerca desde lo masculino", 2012. Galería Zielinsky.

Pachi Santiago, the artist represented in this edition by the Zielinsky Gallery, is a multidisciplinary creator whose main line of work is in representation codes, with all of its implications. Identity, gender, ways in which we profile ourselves, ways of projecting our image as well as the way we are seen, are some of the issues that define his work. In reality, as he himself affirms, it is about seeing life "under another prism", investigating those folds that deeply characterize life and in which, in most cases, are the most important things happen.

Therefore, his work moves between "a thin line among the enigma, the absurd, aesthetics, surrealism, drama, solitude and humour, creating symbolic images and mysterious characters, located in a kind of parallel instant that in reality represent the emotions of our own life." The languages and formal strategies he employs are very varied, working photography, video, illustration and even more hybrid creation, and configuring a very personal and fantastic imagination. After the success of projects such as "Ausentes", "Hybrids", "Sonÿ la musa", "Fábula project" or "Utopia House", the artist will present a performance of another of his most celebrated series: "Copying Claudia".

Pachi Santiago, "Scarface", 2016. Galería Zielinsky.

The German top model Claudia Schiffer, focusing on that version portrayed by the recently deceased master, Karl Lagerfeld, is one of the great obsessions of this artist. His admiration for the work of both of them, sublimated by the process of mythification and adoration so very characteristic of our time, leads the artist to this series of almost total symbiosis. Santiago plays with the identity of Schiffer and his own, he repeats her photographs or commercial videos, enters fully into her universe but without losing his own personality. The artist proposes to rethink the aesthetics and media icons, the power of fashion and our individual aspirations, so often frustrated by not appearing enough to our idol.

Masquerades, deceptions and disappointments, games of admired and admirers, criticism, humour and certain magic, to reflect on issues relevant today such as gender, fashion and so-called fake fame stereotypes. "The man assuming a role that supposedly is attributed to a woman; the stereotyped relationship between artist and muse seen from another point of view, treating the muse as something globally independent from its genre; the man also reified; or the power of being different in a universe in which we aspire to be or to reach something far beyond ourselves". Great problems such as gender as well as differences to distort through so many clichés that flood our daily tasks and our most intimate dreams.

Pachi Santiago, "Disfraz", 2016. Galería Zielinsky.

ust for a determinate period of time, an Art Madrid space will become a very unique photographic set. In that live fashion shooting a camera will record the actions and poses of Pachi Santiago and can be seen live on a screen installed next to the set. Another television will show the images of Claudia Schiffer in which the artist is inspired to pose, trying to do it as his muse in the original photos, reflecting her expressions, playing to be another character: that "Me Claudio", the alter ego between Schiffer and he himself under an ironic look.

Santiago does not care about the fact that he does or not resembles her, but that he wants to interpret being it even if he does not succeed. This romantic, freak and melancholic factor has a lot to do with the essence of the project, something that you can enjoy live in the new edition of Art Madrid, where, Santiago will explain this work to you in person. Don’t miss it!

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.