Art Of The Day Weekly

Arco, an engine for Madrid?

Over 20% unemployment, more than one out of two young workers out of a job, a real estate market that is crumbling down, a weakened bank system, a «spread» that grows with the German rates: in Spain more than elsewhere, life is not “la vie en rose”. This depressing state of affairs is countered by the offensive of the ARCO fair: this year there are more galleries (215) than last year in the contemporary art fair, where the Netherlands are the guest of honor. This month of February, as by the past, the event puts the limelight on Madrid, and its continued ambitious policy regarding exhibitions, with the Prado (open as of recently seven days a week), the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum (that is inaugurating a large retrospective on Chagall) and the Reina Sofía (that is getting ready to close an audacious exhibition on Raymond Roussel) competing in a stimulating way on the Paseo de los Museos. The phenomenon of parallel fairs resists by presenting «emerging» artists at low prices, by daring to set up in original venues, as done by JustMad – a fair with an ironic name very much of our times -, who chose the parking lot of the hotel Silken.

ARCO, 15 to 19 February 2012, at the IFEMA Convention Center