February 21–25, 2018
ARCOmadrid
Avda. del Partenón, 5
28042 Madrid
Spain
www.arco.ifema.es
In keeping with ARCOmadrid’s increasingly innovative structure, the 2018 edition of the fair will have as its central theme not a nation or region but rather a concept: “The Future.” With a special exhibition and events programme curated by guest curator Chus Martínez (along with co-curators Rosa Lleó and Elise Lammer), a radical new fair design by architect Andrés Jaque, and fueled by a newly vigorous Spanish economy and art market, ARCOmadrid will offer collectors, art world professionals and fair visitors a singular opportunity for an in-depth look not only at some of the most up-to-date art being created today, but also a framework to approach the art of tomorrow.
According to Martínez, the concept of “The Future” at ARCOmadrid 2018 “is not a speculative exercise into the future of the art market, but rather into the future of our actions and responsibilities in art and culture… Our idea is to create a space that will allow us to imagine, produce and propose a vision of the complexity that lies in wait for us.” In keeping with this approach, the title Martínez has chosen for the curated section of the fair is a quote from Jorge Luis Borges: “What is going to happen is not ‘the future’, but what we are going to do.”
What is going to happen is not “the future,” but what we are going to do, will take physical form at the fair through a selection of 20 artists and galleries carefully chosen by the curators, spanning various generations and geographic regions. The same concepts will be explored on a theoretical level through a series of presentations, lectures and panel discussions during a full-day interdisciplinary seminar of leading international curators, critics, philosophers and scientists.
The same spirit will be present in the other curated sections of the fair. Dialogues, jointly curated by María de Corral, Lorena Martínez de Corral, and Catalina Lozano, will consist of a selection of approximately 15 galleries, each with only one or two artists, and presenting new work created especially for the fair. The Opening section of the fair, curated by Stefanie Hessler and Ilaria Gianni, will consist of a selection of 20 new galleries with a plural geographic and generational perspective.
ARCOmadrid will once again host numerous events for art world professionals as part of the Forum and Professional Meetings programme. These will include the Museums Forum, led by Ferran Barenblit (Director of MACBA, Barcelona) and Julieta González (Artistic Director, Museo Jumex, Mexico City), which brings together directors of museums and art centers from around the world; and the Collecting Forum, sponsored by Fundación Banco Santander, with Estrella de Diego where art market specialists discuss issues relevant to contemporary art collectors across a wide range of levels and experience.
The reinvigorated Spanish art market and the high quality of the institutional context is the most suitable frame for galleries that participate for the first time at the fair and others that renew their tinterest in ARCOmadrid like Hauser & Wirth, Thaddaeus Ropac, König, Alexander & Bonin, Chantal Crousel or Team. ARCOmadrid 2018 will continue to use its unique position as a bridge between the European and Latin American art worlds in order to offer a platform for Latin American art and its market, and to do so by emphasizing the work of leading Latin American artists—including those based in other parts of the world—presented in stands of major Latin American galleries.
ARCOmadrid 2018 galleries
#future is in collaboration with CNP Partners
