The day has arrived, today we celebrate the inauguration of Art Madrid'19! Almost a thousand works of art, hundreds of artists and galleries are awaiting you in the Crystal Gallery of the Palacio de Cibeles from Wednesday, February 27 until Sunday, March 3. And to welcome you in a very special way, we reveal one of the surprises that you will find at the entrance to the fair: An impressive audiovisual installation by Rubén Martín de Lucas is welcoming you to the 14th edition of Art Madrid!

Rubén Martín de Lucas, "República #14" image, 2019.

Today, Wednesday 27, we inaugurate the new edition of Art Madrid, an edition that highlights the growing international participation and the firm commitment with young creators and the most contemporary works. Gallerists, artists, cultural agents, personalities from multiple areas, special guests and visitors will accompany us in an event where you can discover a spectacular display of contemporary art. In addition, after 1 PM attendees can enjoy a cocktail and talk directly with many of the protagonists of this edition.

Rubén Martín de Lucas, "República #13" image, 2019.

In Art Madrid'19 the surprises could not have been left out, and although sharing with all of you one of the great novelties of this year has been difficult, now we can tell you about the outstanding work that is welcoming you to the fair. Thanks to the collaboration with Sono, we have created a large video installation in which the new works by Rubén Martín de Lucas will be exhibited.

The Guest Artist of this edition is a multidisciplinary creator who, after his step as co-founder of the Boa Mistura collective, he has successfully continued his solo career since 2015. Since then, his main line of work has been the relationship between the individual and the territory. Martín de Lucas features new works from the “Repúblicas Mínimas” series, within the acclaimed “Stupid Borders” project: an exciting work to reflect on the geopolitical borders and the sense of ownership under a look both critical and poetic. Art Madrid presents this series in a new and outstanding media installation in which twelve of the "republics" of Martin de Lucas can be watched simultaneously, an outstanding piece that also connects directly with the main theme of the Activities Program of this year, video art.

Rubén Martín de Lucas, "República #12" image, 2019.

“Repúblicas Mínimas’” works are performative actions with which the artist intervenes the landscape symbolically. The process is simple: he appropriates 100m2, draws an elementary form in the chosen territory and lives in that new space for 24 hours. Precisely the last three editions of this work are those the artist made exclusively for Art Madrid, three unpublished works that will be discovered in the entry installation. This kind of action art always carefully conserves documentary material, video art pieces and photographs that become "poetic gestures, endowed with a mordant irony", as the creator explains.

The video installation that you will be able to enjoy at the entrance of Art Madrid, formed by 12 screens, has been made with the collaboration of Sono, a leading brand in audiovisual engineering and systems integration. With 45 years of experience, since 1972 this pioneering brand creates communication experiences based on audiovisual technology, both nationally and internationally. Thousands of installations, projects and events during these years evidence their success in a high level of competitiveness and always growing sector.

The Sono team specializes in the professional integration of audiovisual technology, and offers a variety of services that range from the ephemeral installation, in fairs, congresses or stages; also the fixed installation, in museums, stadiums, television sets or other types of corporate spaces; to content production. In this last aspect, it is worth highlighting the creation of interactive materials, such as 360º projections, augmented reality, 3D, virtual image and holograms, video mapping or the most advanced Kinect technology. These are precisely technologies that are beginning to have a more prominent presence in art circuits that are betting on new media, and more and more artists are investigating with the possibilities of these tools and expressing themselves through these languages.

With a wide range of equipment and multimedia systems to meet any need, Sono has made facilities for foreign institutions as prominent as the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai, where its intervention in the Spanish Pavilion was highlighted, the Etihad Museum in Dubai or the Olympic Museum of Qatar; as well as on a national level they have developed projects for Fitur, the Maritime Museum of Barcelona, the “Recinto Modernista de Sant Pau”, the concerts held at the Sagrada Familia, the Madrid Roca Gallery or the Primavera Sound, among others.

Possibly, audiovisual art is one of those types of creation that more clearly requires some time on the spectator’ part, and for that reason, this "Repúblicas Mínimas" installation by Martín de Lucas can really be appreciated and enjoyed at the fair. Welcome to the new edition of Art Madrid!

In the year 2020 in the heart of Barcelona a wandering gallery was born, the same one that in February 2021 would debut at Art Madrid with an exhibition proposal focused on contemporary portraits; with this subject matter it would manage to create a powerful dialogue between artwork and audience and make the seal Inéditad remain in the history of the event that contained it.

Jean Carlos Puerto. Protección. Oil and copper leaf on wood. 60 x 48. 2021. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Since that first time and until today, the wandering gallery has managed to build projects on otherness, has repositioned in the spotlight the discourses on the LGTBIQ+ collective, has consolidated a group of artists who share its principles of resilience and empathy and the best thing is that it continues to bet from the professionalism and commitment to give voice to the difference.

Claudio Petit-Laurent.. El Joven de la Perla. Oil on wood. 30 x 30 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Inéditad Gallery, thanks to its founder Luis López, its collaborators and the infinite possibilities manifested in the works of the artists it represents, is a gallery that has demonstrated its capacity and courage to stimulate the sensibility of the public through art and seduce a generation that moves between the glass window and the analogical story. Inéditad is a nomadic gallery that has gathered around it a community of artists and has moved the context with exhibition projects that think about LGTBIQ+ art without prejudices.

Pepa Salas Vilar. Las marcas del arcoiris. Oil on canvas. 40 x 50 cm. 2022. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Pride and Prejudice was inaugurated. An exhibition that brings together the works of sixteen artists: Abel Carrillo, Alex Domènech, Carlos Enfedaque, Silvia Flechoso, Jamalajama, Daniel Jaén, Claudio Petit-Laurent, Jean Carlos Puerto, Fernando Romero, Pablo Rodríguez, Pepa Salas Vilar, Jack Smith, Pablo Sola, Bran Sólo, Elia Tomás and Utürüo. Painting, illustration, photography and digital art are the manifestations that bring into dialogue around fifty neatly threaded pieces, in a discursive line that discusses such a latent phenomenon as discrimination. To achieve this, the artists invited to the exhibition question themselves whether: Does discrimination exist within the LGTBIQ+ collective?

Pride and Prejudice Official Poster. Image courtesy of the gallery.

With approaches on and from the body, the proposal invites to celebrate diversity, proposes to question and self-question the prejudices and attitudes of society against the collective. Pride and Prejudice is a space for dialogue about the constructs imposed on us by society. It is also an oasis in which to deconstruct with tolerance and respect the subjectivities that sometimes prevent us from approaching the production of the participating artists, simply because "the beautiful" does not fit in an androgynous body. The subjugation of stereotypes are pressed with determination to find the beauty of diversity in other palpable facets of reality.

Pablo Sola. All men are dogs. Photography. 2014. Image courtesy of the gallery.

Throughout these three years Inéditad has stimulated the vindictive projection towards bad practices, has questioned estates around the LGTBIQ+ body and the most admirable thing, is that these capacities have resurfaced around the dialogue and the visual narrative of the stories that are told from the visual: Artworks that are people, art that is, per se, humanity. Overcome impositions and accept what is different in order to continue fighting against homophobia, biphobia, lesbophobia or transphobia and defend the equal rights that all the acronyms of the collective deserve in our community.

That's Pride and Prejudice: One creature, the happiest in the world. And maybe other projects and other people have said it - or felt it - before, but none so fairly.

Silvia Flechoso. Hola, soy maricón. Oil on canvas. 73 x 54 cm. 2023. Image courtesy of the gallery.

From June 8th until June 22nd you can visit Pride and Prejudice. Carrer de Palau núm. 4. Canal Gallery space. Barcelona.