Art Madrid'25 – VIDEO ART FESTIVALS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN BASIN

The selection of video art that we enjoyed in the last edition of Art Madrid had the collaboration of 13 international festivals dedicated to video creation, experimental cinema and moving image. Mario Gutiérrez Cru, the director of the PROYECTOR video art platform, and the curator of the “Art Madrid-Proyector'20” action program, carried out an arduous task of selection and contact with these contests and exhibitions with the aim of offering a varied, enriching picture of the reality of global video creation. With the 13 international festivals invited, we had the unique opportunity to enjoy video art outside the usual exhibition circuits that this discipline occupies.

In addition to a prominent presence of Latin American exhibitions, the screening cycle also offered an interesting and different vision of initiatives from countries bathed in the Mediterranean. We refer to the selection made from PROYECTOR - Video Art Platform (Spain), Le Cube - Independent Art Room (Morocco), Oodaaq (France) and Video Art Miden (Greece).

Frame from "Acción 07_09_07#1/Fuego en la cabeza" (2007), by Olga Diego

PROYECTOR - Video art platform offered us the possibility of getting to know the video-creation work of the artists who starred in the “Art Madrid-Proyector’20” program and who intervened through presentations, performances, talks or meetings. With this screening cycle we were able to delve into another of the creative facets of these authors and get closer to new perspectives on their work.

At the booth D5 of the fair, we could watch these artworks: "Terra Nullius" (2016) by Patxi Araújo; "Bildung (the growth of the I)" (2019), by Abelardo Gil-Fournier; "Na vibración" (2012), by Lois Patiño; "Acción 07_09_07#1/Fuego en la cabeza" (2007), by Olga Diego; "Nocturno" (2009), by Fernando Baena; "Música con pelos y señales" (2011), by Arturo Moya; "Panasonia" (2014), by Eduardo Balanza; "Partidura" (2016), by Eunice Artur; "Dividir por la línea dos libros" (2013), by Mario Santamaría; "Dystopia #1" (2018), by Iván Puñal, and "Procedimientos" (2014), by Maia Navas.

Frame from "Sisyphe" (2019), by Driss Aroussi

Le Cube - Independent Art Room (Morocco) is designed as an exhibition, residence and research space focused on contemporary artistic practices. Its approach revolves around projects that raise social, cultural, and political issues, and encourages proposals that challenge history and stories.

The selection made from Le Cube counted on the following art pieces: "Sisyphe" (2019), by Driss Aroussi; "Collective gestures/ performing with Strauss" (2019), by Maria Hanl; "People's park" (2017), by Camille Dumond; "How to remove writings from bills using nail polish remover" (2019), by Soukaina Joual, and "Achayet" (2018), by Abdessamad El Montassir.

Frame from "Panorama" (2014), by Giancula Abbate

The Oodaaq Festival (France) was born in 2011 and every year offers an artistic trip through the city of Rennes. It brings together exhibitions, video art screenings, performances, installations in public spaces, conferences and round tables around nomadic and poetic images. The festival's program is divided between an international call for projects and a space open to local and international cultural structures.

Oodaaq was present Art Madrid with the artworks: "Window" (2013), by Aibhe Ni Bhriain; "Hajar" (2016), by Karou Calamy; "Black hole son" (2018), by Pete Burkeet; "Je suis allée" (2011), by Maria Ornaf; "Le park" (2015), by Randa Maroufi; "Please step out of the frame" (2018), by Karissa Hahn; "Field of infinity" (2018), by Guli Silberstein; "Panorama" (2014), by Giancula Abbate; "Untitled" (2013), by Christian Niccoli; and "Towards The Hague" (2016), by Sylvia Winkler & Stephan Koeperl.

Finally, we complete this Mediterranean set with Video Art Miden, from Greece. Video Art Miden is an independent organization for the exploration and promotion of video art. Founded by an independent group of Greek artists in 2005, it has been one of the earliest specialized video-art festivals in Greece, setting as basic aims to stimulate the creation of original video art, to help spread it and develop relevant research. Through collaborations and exchanges with major international festivals and organizations, it has been recognized as one of the most successful and interesting video art platforms internationally and as an important cultural exchange point for Greek and international video art. Miden screening programs have traveled in many cities of Greece and all over the world, and they are hosted by significant festivals, museums and institutions globally.

This festival presented two video cycles at Art Madrid: “The way it looks back at you”, curated by Gioula Papadopoulou and Maria Bourika, and “Anatomy of silence”, selected by Gioula Papadopoulou.

Frame from “Bestiari”, by Albert Merino

Cycle “The way it looks back at you”. The present is the future of the past. What happens if you are trapped in a weird and dystopian present future? The program presents 8 videos which deal with a hypnotic re-cycling of time, creating powerful images coming from a world of dreams –or from a present future.

  1. “Vortex”, Alexandre Alagôa (Portugal 2017)

  2. “Bestiari”, Albert Merino (Spain 2018)

  3. “Harvest”, Chaja Hertog & Nir Nadler (Netherlands 2013)

  4. “Intolerance”, Tessa Ojala (Finland 2015)

  5. “The Caller”, Muhammad Taymour (Egypt 2017)

  6. “Travel Notebooks: Bilbo”, Silvia de Gennaro (Bizkaia- Spain & Italy 2017)

  7. “Self-Portrait with Mother (Serve)”, Gray Swartzel (USA 2018)

  8. “Sunny Day”, Marius Krivičius & Andrej Polukord (Lithuania 2017)

Frame from “Ship of Fools”, by Babis Venetopoulos

“Anatomy of silence” is a selection of Greek video art, which gathers visual works that silently but sharply comment on human existence, through strong symbolic images and minimalistic actions. The selection features 9 video works by acclaimed and emerging video artists from Greece.

  1. “Ship of Fools”, Babis Venetopoulos (Greece 2017)

  2. “Through the WasteLand”, For Cancel (Takis Zerdevas, Zoi Pirini, Makis Faros) (Greece 2018)

  3. “The will”, Makis Faros (Greece 2018)

  4. “Fall”, Gioula Papadopoulou (Greece 2018)

  5. “Out my body”, Poly Kokkinia (Greece 2005)

  6. “Skin Shedding”, Alexandros Kaklamanos (Greece 2016)

  7. “Point”, Fotis Kolokithas (Greece 2017)

  8. “Reflex”, Yiannis Pappas (Germany 2017)

  9. “Popcorn Free Throws”, Anna Vasof (Austria 2018)

 

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.



With the support of