Art Madrid'25 – THE ONES WHO LOOK: “MUJERES MIRANDO MUJERES” FESTIVAL

More and more disciplines have joined the reflection on the feminine condition that faces the current reality from the review and the questioning of its historical past. Thus literature, film, music, art, science, agriculture, to mention just a few, join the list of places from which to continue the debate on a movement in constant reinvention.

It is an awakening that, although it extends throughout the year, seems to focus particularly hard in March, with a program that includes festivals, fairs, conferences, marches, readings that transpire enthusiasm and communion. Thus, among the programs of the third month of the year, interesting and necessary projects stand out, such as the Mujeres Mirando Mujeres festival, an initiative of Arte a Click that celebrates its 5th edition between March 9th and June 12th.

Marina Vargas “La Bacante”, 2015. Polyester resin, marble powder, enamel paint. (image from ©www.marinavargas.com)

The Mujeres Mirando Mujeres project was founded in 2015 by Mila Abadía, with the purpose of spread out the work that women carry out in the art field from the creation to the communication processes, through the curatorial and art critic. As she herself confesses, the idea emerged as an outburst. I have always fought for women's rights and had not actively participated in any feminist claim for a long time.

In this sense, the fifth edition is composed of 51 artists, 52 art managers, 15 communicators, 11 invited projects which gives rise to a total of 80 works in which 118 women involved with the feminist movement and with art participate, among them, there are bloggers, journalists, communicators, gallerists, museologists who give light to a rich program based on presentations and interviews with artists that will be published until June on the web. As in previous editions, the festival is concerned with making visible the work of artists with a new professional career, as is the case of the Italian interdisciplinary artist Mónica Mura, whose work revolves around the improvement and appreciation of human beings. The gender perspective of the Italian author goes through her life and work in which she gives voice to groups and individuals who have suffered social rejection due to their nature as transgender, homosexual women... Mónica Mura will be presented by the researcher Karen Campos.

"For me, art is a synonym of freedom and I believe in the power of creation as an engine of transformation". Monica Mura

Mónica Mura, project “Poder ver-Ver poder”, 2018. Video installation (image from ©www.monicamura.com)

Among the less experienced artists, we also find the Catalan photographer Alejandra Carles-Tolra, who seeks to understand through her images the identity and to blur its limits. Is there an identity that defines women? Which one? These are some of the questions she poses in her project. Alejandra Carles-Tolra will be presented by the director of the Fiftydots gallery, Laura Salvado.

In addition to new artists, the festival also welcomes already renowned looks, like that of Gabriela Bettini who combines in her work the analysis of the environmental crisis with the situation of women, both affected by the violence of the system.

I guess the work changes to the same extent that we change as individuals, the artist once affirmed. Her work and that of the rest of the artists that make up the Mujeres Mirando Mujeres project are an echo of the concerns and conflicts of our time, a time that is increasingly ours.

Gabriela Bettini, project “Primavera silenciosa”, 2018 (image from ©gabrielabettini.com)

As once noted Estrella de Diego, always wise: it is not worth being a feminist in the art world, one has to be a feminist or not, our thinking should invade our way of being in the world and of relating to it. And in this sense, art makes it possible to stay those thoughts of our life which are the reflection of our passage through the world.

For this reason, initiatives such as the Mujeres Mirando Mujeres that make women's work real and effective, are as necessary as important.

 

RAÍCES AFUERA. PERFORMANCE CYCLE X ART MADRID'25

Art Madrid celebrates twenty years of contemporary art from March 5 to 9, 2025, at the Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles. During Art Week, it becomes an exhibition platform for national and international galleries and artists. In this edition, with the aim of providing a space for artists working in the realm of performance art, the fair presents Raíces Afuera, a performance cycle that explores notions of belonging and the need for rootedness in a contemporary world marked by fragmentation, displacement, and disconnection. Positioned within the fair as a critical and reflective space, the project challenges the individual’s relationship with their environment, community, and sense of identity.

PERFORMANCE: LAS FRONTERAS SIEMPRE TIENEN DOS LADOS. BY ELÉONORE OZANNE

March 6 | 19:00h. Galería de Cristal of the Palacio de Cibeles.


The real true tourist experience. Johanna Failer & Eléonore Ozanne. Performance Documentation.


You leave the house, and someone holds the door for you: "Oh, sorry—thank you." You’re walking down the street, and someone comes toward you: "Uh, sorry—thank you." If I’m late, if I can’t find something, if I don’t sit in my usual spot, if I ask for help, or if I don’t know what to say… "Sorry—thank you."

How many times have we said these two words? To whom? And why? Why does your mouth not sound the same as mine?


Day In, Day Out. Eléonore Ozanne. Performance Documentation.


Las fronteras siempre tienen dos lados invites us into the author's mind to discuss boundaries. Large boundaries that frighten. Tiny boundaries that are forgotten, and all those in between, with which we must negotiate, build, or tear down.

Las fronteras siempre tienen dos lados is a work that encourages reflection on the invisible borders that shape our daily lives. Through the words "sorry" and "thank you", the author sets up a dialogue about how, in our everyday interactions, we are constantly faced with limits and distances—both physical and emotional. Every time we use these words, we are acknowledging a separation, whether it’s letting someone pass or asking for help in moments of discomfort. The work highlights how these small phrases, often repeated without much thought, serve as a way to negotiate our relationships with the world and those around us.

In this context, the boundaries explored in the work are not just geographical, but also social and personal. The barriers that separate us from others may be subtle, but they significantly affect our daily lives. Through these gestures, we are constantly building, breaking down, or accepting the limits that define our relationship with others. Las fronteras siempre tienen dos lados challenges us to question how we perceive these boundaries and how words that seem simple actually reflect the complex dynamics of our existence.


The real true tourist experience. Johanna Failer y Eléonore Ozanne. Performance Documentation.


ABOUT ELÉONORE OZANNE

Eléonore Ozanne (Corbeil-Essonnes, France, 1990) is an artist and researcher working between France and Spain. She is a doctoral candidate in Fine Arts at UPV/EHU and Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour. Her work focuses on the relationship between the body and borders in everyday spaces. Through displacement, the multidisciplinary artist draws the concept of borders as physical limits or invisible walls that are crossed daily. She uses her body as the central axis of her work, exploring through actions, the movement through, across, or into predetermined spaces or times.

She has been awarded numerous residencies in Spain, Mexico, and Europe, including NauEstruch and CECDA in Veracruz. She has collaborated with artists such as Pilar Albarracín and is a member of the research teams Gizartea and Alter, where she actively participates in exploring ways to understand precariousness and displacement in the era of globalization. Her work has been exhibited at international festivals and venues, such as Matadero Madrid and Cidade da Cultura de Galicia. Additionally, she has published texts on art and precariousness in publishers like Dykinson and the University of the Basque Country.



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