Art Madrid'26 – THE CREATIVE UNIVERSE OF M.C.ESCHER


Maurits Cornelis Escher, February 1938. Woodcut, 39.1 × 67.7 cm Collezione Giudiceandrea Federico All M.C. Escher works © 2016 The M.C. Escher Company

 

The Dutch artist Maurtis Corneils Escher, 1898-1972. He is known worldwide for his wood engravings. Escher's style is a paradigm, his relationship with mathematics and geometry have managed to create impossible figures that still escape our reason today. Their imaginary worlds are a constant in his work. His drawings in 2D and 3D move the viewer into stranger places.

 

 

Maurits Cornelis Escher's work, xylographic engraving

 

 

Escher's work has traveled all over the world. He was one of the most copied artists in history, to such an extent that the last years of his career was dedicated to destroying the original pieces so that they do not copy. Many of his works are distributed worldwide in public and private collections. Now, we can enjoy more than 200 works collected in the palace of Gaviria.

 

 

View of the exhibition

 

This space was closed for many years. Thanks to the Arthemisa, an Italian group that produces and organizes the show, they have filled with games of logic the palatial stays. The exhibition, curated by Mark Veldhuysen (CEO of the M.C. Escher Company) and the collector Federico Giudiceandrea. The exhibition includes such emblematic works as "Hand with reflective sphere" "Relativity" (or House of Stairs) and "Belvedere". Thanks to these pieces we can get a little closer to the twisted mind of a scientist.

 

 

Maurits Cornelis Escher's work, xylographic engraving

 

 

In addition, the exhibition counts on scientific experiments, play areas and other educational resources to bring the art closer to the little ones. A safe bet for all audiences and a unique opportunity to enjoy a rare artistic experience. Also noteworthy is the section "Eschermanía", which includes drawings, lithographs, etchings and woodcuts of the artist that have influenced the world of film and design, among other fields.


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: OSCURECER UN PAPEL. BY ROCÍO VALDIVIESO

March 5 | 7:00 PM. Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles.


Nocturnality. Installation. Rocío Valdivieso..


Oscurecer un papel forms part of a series of actions in which the artist engages in reading through repetition, memorization, and a measured degree of improvisation. Within this framework, a non-linear mode of reading emerges from a written text that is transformed when spoken aloud, assuming a different form in the act of articulation. The texts stem from an ongoing investigation into materiality, space, the relationships between body and matter, writing, the sculptural, and a sustained interest in the exploration of voice and orality.

The material from which Oscurecer un papel is constructed consists of a collection of purchase receipts the artist has been accumulating over time. The printed text they contain, together with the action of bringing them into proximity with a heat source—thereby activating the thermal paper on which they are produced—generates meanings that revolve around the notions of consumption and wear.


Rocío Valdivieso. Latent Aura. Performance documentation.


ABOUT ROCÍO VALDIVIESO

Rocío Valdivieso is an artist, researcher, and cultural manager. She is currently a PhD candidate in Fine Arts at the Complutense University of Madrid. She holds an MA in Research in Artistic Practices from the University of Castilla–La Mancha (UCLM) and a BA in Fine Arts from the National University of Tucumán, Argentina. She was a Fundación Carolina fellow from 2022 to 2023. She currently co-directs Errática. Laboratory of Processes and Critique in Madrid, alongside Romina Casile.

She was part of the PEEPA 2023 Program at the Centro de Residencias Artísticas, Matadero Madrid. She completed the 2021/22 Artists Program at Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Buenos Aires, and in 2020 participated in the Intensive Curatorial Program of Proyecto PAC at Galería Gachi Prieto, Buenos Aires. She received the Visual Arts Promotion Award at the 4th Visual Arts Week of the Ente Cultural de Tucumán. She was awarded an AUGM scholarship for an exchange residency at UNESP, São Paulo, Brazil. She also participated in the International Residency Program La Ira de Dios and in the Acéfala Galería Residency for Argentine artists.