February 21–25, 2018
As ARCOmadrid celebrates its 37th edition this coming February, the city of Madrid will play host to a related series of contemporary art exhibitions, several featuring leading Latin American artists and art collections, while the fair will once again serve as a gathering place for art world professionals from around the globe. In this way the vibrant Spanish capital will continue to consolidate its role as a key stop on the contemporary art circuit and a unique bridge between the European and Latin American contemporary art scenes and art markets.
As in past editions of the fair, this year’s extensive programme of professional activities will bring together leading artists, curators, critics, museum directors and other art world specialists to participate in a wide-ranging programme of panel discussions and meetings. This year’s participants in the Forum and Professional Meetings programme will include artist Julieta Aranda, collector João Carlos Figueiredo Ferraz, philosopher Timothy Morton, philanthropist Han Nefkens, artist Trevor Paglen, curator Mari Carmen Ramírez and Martin Bethenod, director of Palazzo Grassi and Pinault Collection. In addition, the 7th Meeting of European and Iberoamerican Museums: Rethinking the Nineties, directed by Ferrán Barenblit and Julieta González, will count on the participation of curators and museum directors such as José Luis Blondet, Catherine David, Pablo León de la Barra, Adriano Pedrosa and José Roca. These acclaimed events offer a broad spectrum of art world figures an opportunity to discuss projects and debate ideas, so that ARCOmadrid functions as a platform where art discourse and the art market converge fruitfully and dynamically.
In conjunction with the fair, the Spanish capital of Madrid will host a series of exhibitions and events dedicated to contemporary art at museums and cultural institutions throughout the city, with several spotlighting Latin American artists and major contemporary art collections. These will include exhibitions of artists such as Doris Salcedo, William Kentridge and John Akomfrah (curated by Chus Martínez) as well as exhibitions dedicated to the collections of Luis Paulo Montenegro, the Colombian Bank of the Republic, Thibault Poutrel and Helga de Alvear.
In addition, ARCOmadrid 2018 will also host the ceremony for the 22nd prestigious “A” Awards for Collecting, presented each year by Fundación ARCO to leading collectors and art institutions dedicated to contemporary art. This year’s prizes will go to the Alicia Koplowitz – Grupo Omega Capital collection; to the Col·lecció Per Amor a l’Art and its new headquarters Bombas Gens; to Portuguese collector Armando Martins; to the Ella Fontanels Cisneros Collection; to the Collection of Latin American Art, The Museum of Fine Arts Houston; and to Brazilian collector Luis Paulo Montenegro.
In keeping with the fair’s increasingly innovative structure, ARCOmadrid 2018 will have as its central theme not a nation or region but rather a concept: "The Future,” and will feature a special exhibition and events programme curated by guest curator Chus Martínez (along with co-curators Rosa Lleó and Elise Lammer) and a radical new fair design by architect Andrés Jaque. Taken together, the fair and related events in venues around the city such as Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza or CentroCentro 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.
