ARCOmadrid consolidates its Latin American focus with Argentina as its guest country

The 36th edition of ARCOmadrid, International Contemporary Art Fair organised by IFEMA, to be held from 22 to 26 February in Madrid, was presented in Buenos Aires. The main novelty of this new edition will be the special participation of Argentina as the Guest Country and its projection throughout Madrid in the form of numerous initiatives in the city’s main museums and art centres. The Argentine Minister for Culture, Pablo Avelluto, was responsible for the presentation along with the Managing Director of IFEMA, Eduardo López-Puertas; the director of ARCOmadrid, Carlos Urroz; the managers of Argentina at the fair, Inés Katzenstein and Sonia Becce, as well as representatives of ArteBA, and the Spanish Embassy in Argentina. During the act, the general guidelines for the next edition of ARCOmadrid were described in detail, along with the main contents and presences from Argentina at ARCOmadrid.

ARCOmadrid 2017 will bring together a total of 200 galleries, of which 160 form part of the General Programme, as well as the curated sections: ´Argentina at ARCO´, with a selection of 12 galleries; ´Dialogues´, with 11 and ´Opening´, with 17.

The programme will hinge on a backbone of quality and consolidation of the fair as a hub for the discovery of new talents and contents for collectors and professionals. Thus, of all the galleries selected by the Organising Committee and the curators of the various programmes, almost one third of the Fair will take part with projects focusing on the presentation of one or two artists from different contexts, reinforcing ARCOmadrid as a space for getting to know the work of artists from different generations.

On the other hand, the participation of Argentina as the Guest Country consolidates ARCOmadrid as a Latin American benchmark in Europe. In fact, Latin America will be one of the main international presences at the Fair. Which is why, of the 67% international participation at this fair, 32% will be made up of an artistic presence from the American continent, with 43 galleries from 10 countries in the region, once again positioning ARCOmadrid as a meeting point that provides the opportunity for exchange between Europe and Latin America. A mark of identitythat will be reaffirmed even further with the special participation of Argentina and its artistic selection.

In this context, the city of Madrid will strive to show off its best Latin side. Madrid in February willprovide an exceptional moment to celebrate collecting in Latin America withvarious projects coinciding in the capital’s main art centres and museums. Thus, it will be possible to visit the exhibition of the Isabel and Agustín Coppel collection, at the Fundación Banco Santander; the Hochschild collection, based in Lima, at Sala  Alcalá 31, and the Costantini Collection, at the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, which is also where the ARCO Foundation dinner and ‘A’ Awards for Collecting ceremony will be held.  

In addition to these exhibitions, the city will also play host to the programme being put together by Argentina at ARCO, created by the independent curator Sonia Becce, along with other actions to be held within the framework of the Fair’s Forum and the Professional Encounters, with the participation of major collectors from the American continent.

GALLERIES

In addition to the long-standing loyalty of participating galleries, other new galleries will also join this year and developing countries will be present, outlining the traits that characterise this edition and that make for a quality and consistent fair. 

Hence, participants at the next edition of the fair will include a good representation of galleries that have placed their trust in ARCOmadrid following their participation in 2016, such as Alexander and Bonin; Chantal Crousel; Fortes Vilaça; Jan Mot/Sprueth Magers; Lisson Gallery and Team Gallery, as well as other important entities that maintain their interest in the Fair, such as Carlier Gebauer; Esther Shipper; Jocelyn Wolff and Kow, along with some new incorporations that include Dvir; Jablonka Maruani Mercier Gallery; Labor; Michel Rein; Nara Roesler; Supportico Lopez; Tanya Bonakdar.

ARTISTS

ARCOmadrid continues its focus on presenting artist projects individually or in dialogue; inter-generational dialogues throughout the entire fair that range from the youngest artists like Elena Alonso and Fito Conesa, to benchmark artists from our present time such as Anna Oppermann; Henri Chopin; Mihai Olos or Robert Breer.

In this way, ARCOmadrid carves out a space for the SOLO/DUO proposal again. Of the galleries selected by the Organising Committee of the General Programme, over 20 will dedicate their stand to one or two artists that include Alan Charlton; Dirk Skreber; Edgardo Antonio Vigo; Ignasi Aballí; José María Sicilia or Tomás Saraceno.  

The curated sections will also include presentations that are either individual or in dialogue. Argentina at ARCO, with the participation of 12 galleries selected by Inés Katzenstein, independent curator and director of the art department of UTDT, will present internationally renowned artists such as Alberto Greco; Eduardo Stupia and Mirtha Dermisache, along with others yet to be discovered by the public such as Diego Bianchi, Pablo Accinelli or Sol Pipkin.

The Dialogues programme will include 10 galleries handpicked byMaría de Corral, Lorena Martínez de Corral and Catalina Lozano whose stands will generate both new contents and the presentation of the artists’ oeuvre in depth. Among these, Diango Hernández and Roman Ondak, as well as Argentine artists selected with the collaboration of Inés Katzenstein, including Eduardo Navarro; Irene Kopelman and Tomás Saraceno.

Additionally, the Opening programme will once again focus on galleries with a track record of maximum seven years with a view to offering new information and aesthetic experiences. The programme will be made up of 17 galleries selected by Juan Canela, independent curator and co-director of BAR projects, Barcelona, and Stefanie Hessler, curator of TBA21-Academy and co-director of andquestionmark, Stockholm. Among others, the artists Beatriz Santiago Muñoz; Carme Nogueira; Felipe Cohen, winner of the illy Award last edition; Luis Lázaro Matos and Michael Linares will participate.

PROFESSIONALS

ARCOmadrid exists as a space for the exchange of ideas and projects, and the presence of outstanding art world professionals enables it to put together an intense programme of debates and encounters. The Professional Encounters, which already represent one of the ARCOmadrid trademarks, return to forge a tighter bond with the Fair contents for the purposes of driving synergies between critics, galleries and artists. This is why the section curators themselves (Juan Canela; Stefanie Hessler; Catalina Lozano, with the collaboration of Chris Sharp) will submit their contents proposals and guest selection. Along the same lines, the Forum will host sessions on collecting organised in collaboration with the Fundación Banco Santander, to be directed by Estrella de Diego and Judith Benhamou-Huet.

The Fair will once again welcome the Museums’ Working Session, jointly organised by AC/E and ADACE, which will bring around 30 museum directors and representatives to Madrid. In line with this, for the sixth year running, the European and Latin American Museums Encounter will be held, directed by João Fernandes and Victoria Noorthoorn.

This meeting point between international professionals and forum for the creation and exchange of projects between the guests and the participating galleries of the Fair, is one of the traits highlighted most among participants at ARCOmadrid.

ARCOmadrid carries out intense research in order to both present quality contents, and to attract the best suited guests; a task reinforced by the collaboration of five experts from the United States, Brazil, France, Belgium, Germany and Spain. They are responsible for identifying those collectors close to the Fair contents. So on this occasion the guest collectors programme will bring over 250 active collectors to Madrid from all over the world.