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!

The CEART opens this Thursday, November 14th in the room A an exhibition dedicated to this master of photography, which will be open to the public until February 9th. The show includes one of the artist's latest projects, focused on the hard work carried out by the miners of Serra Pelada, an open gold mine in the heart of Brazil where employees daily risked their lives.

Immigration, poverty, marginal life, slave labour, man's relationship with the land, the use of natural resources... are issues that have always fascinated Salgado. From the beginning of his career as a photographer, his work has opted to give visibility to the most disadvantaged groups and to create with his images a vivid and impressive visual story without fakes. With a raw black and white, this author's work transits between photo-reportage and naturalistic photography.

And the idea that permeates all his work is human dignity. Salgado portrays employees, miners and gatherers from a purely humanistic approach that wants to value their integrity, their strength and their resilience.

“If you photograph a human, so that he is not represented in a noble way, there is no reason to take the picture. That is my way of seeing things.”

Salgado entered this discipline long after completing his studies in economics between Brazil and the United States, and a doctorate in statistics in France. But in 1973 his life took a turn, and he decided to start his career as a photographer. He achieved to work at the Gamma Agency and Magnum Photos for more than 15 years until in 1994 he founded his own agency “Amazonas Imagen”.

With the “Gold” project, the photographer portrays a harsh reality that takes place in the Serra Pelada mine, a name given to a totally devastated and anarchically excavated mining enclave, the world's largest open-pit gold mine, through which more than 50,000 people have passed. In the heat of the legends about the mysterious “El Dorado”, the enthusiasm for this precious metal led to the development of strenuous exploitation practices for the workers and to originate tales of grief and glory, of human victory and defeat between the soil, the tunnels and the cargo baskets.

The CEART exhibition brings together Salgado's full portfolio in his characteristical black and white and large-format photographs that leave no one indifferent.