Tension, controversy, glamour, performances, and a lot of contemporary art converged in Madrid at the end of February with the thirty-second edition of ARCOmadrid, directed by Carlos Urroz, and for nine years now accompanied by Art Madrid, which in this case has its headquarters in the spectacular Crystal Gallery of Palacio de Cibeles. More than two hundred galleries spread across two pavilions of IFEMA, with Finland as the guest country, formed the global spectrum of the current contemporary art market.
The idea of a global fair that this event, firmly positioned worldwide, tries to pursue is to shed the cliché of being elitist and a bazaar, to aim for the total event in terms of contemporary art. Different sections such as Opening dedicated to young galleries and Solo Projects where emphasis is placed on the Latin American scene serve as examples, and walking through its corridors visiting the galleries, one could perceive that the intention was not to present showrooms for sales but rather true independent exhibition spaces.
These types of events are a meeting place where a dynamic debate around current creativity is created, and gallerists, collectors, critics, curators, dealers, and art lovers in general interact. The increase in VAT on art has been the cornerstone of this edition, dubbed the “fiscal entanglement” edition, which pushes us into the slow lane behind other countries, such as France or Germany, with tax advantages in this regard, which increases the art market and transactions.
Despite everything, during those days the capital of Spain became the nerve center of world art with parallel exhibitions in all the city's museums and galleries, in addition to the emerging artist fair Justmad, which was celebrating its fifth edition. The traditional conception of the art fair has become an event that encompasses and involves an entire city for years and that transports thousands of art lovers from one place to another around the globe, whose next appointment on the agenda places them at TEFAF, the Maastricht art fair, which will be held from March 14 to 23.