ARCO8
13th – 18th February 2008
The spotlight on Latin America with Brazil as its invited guest country provides a focus to the 27th International Contemporary Art Fair of Madrid, together with its new exhibition halls and reorganisation of its art programme
Once again, in 2008 gallerists, collectors and art professionals from all over the world are coming together at ARCO8, the International Contemporary Art Fair. This year it is debuting new halls and revamping its contents. New ideas for a new layout designed by the architect Juan Herreros, add an extra attraction to this 27th ARCO, featuring Brazil as its invited guest country plus a top class selection of art from 295 galleries coming from 34 countries worldwide with over fifty noteworthy new incorporations. Out of the total number of participants, 224 galleries were selected by the Organising Committee for the General Programme, which now includes a new section for the most recent contemporary art (ARCO40). Meanwhile, a team of leading international curators made an interesting selection of proposals for Solo Projects and Expanded-Box and also for a new section called Performing ARCO, featuring live art for the first time in ARCO.
Following the commercial success of the last edition and its increased weight on the international art calendar, ARCO continues focusing the interest of the art market. In fact, the strong demand for participation this year materialised in more than 500 applications and finally in a selection in which the three great art markets—New York, London, Germany—are playing a major role alongside Brazil, one of the hottest centres of the art world and one of the countries drawing greatest attention and interest.
Around 300 international collectors are travelling to ARCO8, further empowering the fair as a major platform for the art market. These collectors are invited to the fair as part of its guest collectors programme, this year including major names in collecting from all over the world. With a noteworthy participation from Brazil, ARCO is expecting many European, Asian, North American and Latin American collectors, attracted to the fair by the high quality of the galleries and the buoyancy of the Spanish market.
The Spanish art market and Spanish collections are advancing positions in the art world, as confirmed by the 2005 EFF (Spanish Survey of Household Finances), published in December 2007 by the Banco de España [Bank of Spain]. The survey indicates that art is the third most popular investment option for Spaniards, just behind real estate property and financial products, with a one percent increase in investment in artworks and antiques, with investors making up 19.3% of the total. This was further confirmed by Artprice analysts, who now place Spain among the top 10 countries for contemporary art auctions.
