PANORAMA MADRID: A LOOK AT THE CONTEMPORARY SCENE

Within the framework of CentroCentro’s (Madrid, Spain) new programme, the metropolitan cultural centre that aims to take the pulse of the Spanish cultural scene, presents the exhibition project Panorama Madrid. With the aim of making contemporary artistic production visible and promoting it, the project functions as an indicator of the most relevant exhibitions throughout the year in the Spanish capital.

The protagonists of this first edition Panorama Madrid 01 which opens tomorrow are Tamara Arroyo (Madrid, 1972), Elena Asins (Madrid, 1940 - Navarra, 2015), June Crespo (Pamplona, 1982), Óscar Domínguez (Tenerife, 1906 - Paris, 1957), Isaac Julien (London, 1960), Cristina Lucas (Jaén, 1973), Ana Mendieta (Havana, 1948 - New York, 1985), Juan Luis Moraza (Vitoria-Gasteiz, 1960), Aurèlia Muñoz (Barcelona, 1926 - 2011) and Ana Santos (Espinho, 1982).

Isaac Julien, Lina Bo Bardi - Un Maravilloso Enredo , 2019. Museo Helga de Alvear, Cáceres, España.

The project organised by CentroCentro aims to reveal a plural map of the contemporary art scene in Madrid. The selection of exhibitions mentioned is aimed at locating the most interesting projects within the circuit of galleries in the Spanish capital. In a way, the jury —constituted in this edition by the art critics Bea Espejo, Luisa Espino, Marta Gómez, Laura Revuelta and Rocío de la Villa— that makes up the annual selection thus aims to highlight a dozen exhibitions as a representation of the city's prolific cultural offer.

According to what CentroCentro explained, the initiative arises from the need and responsibility of the centre as a public institution to bring contemporary production, somewhat hermetic to the general public, closer to new audiences. Likewise, to give evidence of the incessant work and effort that the different agents of Madrid's artistic cultural industry dedicate to contemporary art.

In addition to the relevance that the proposal already has in itself, the year in which it is launched to the public for the first time is not a minor fact. The context of crisis produced by COVID-19 has had a brutal impact on art galleries, both in Spain and in the rest of the world, separating artists from visitors. In this sense Panorama Madrid is also an initiative to confront the invisibility that the health crisis has caused, becoming an exhibition of exhibitions that, in addition to possessing incalculable value, have suffered the closure of the galleries and the confinement of the public.

The jury's view of the exhibitions on show demonstrates the multidisciplinary nature of contemporary art and the breadth of its language. The ten selected projects range from sculpture and installation art to pictorial art, video and new media. In addition, they establish an intergenerational dialogue that maps the artistic development from the work of figures inscribed in the 20th century, such as Ana Mendieta and Óscar Domínguez, among others, with the production of more recent artists such as June Crespo or Ana Santos.

  

Panorama Madrid 01 Selection:

. Pura calle, by Tamara Arroyo - Galería Nieves Fernández (Calle Blanca de Navarra, 12, 28010 Madrid).

. Obras de 1971 a 1995, by Elena Asins - Galería Elvira González (Calle Hermanos Álvarez Quintero, 1, 28004 Madrid).

. Voy, sí, by June Crespo - Galería Heinrich Ehrhard  (Calle de San Lorenzo, 11, 28004 Madrid).

. El triple trazo. 1948-1952, by Óscar Domínguez -  Galería Guillermo de Osma (Calle de Claudio Coello, 4, 1 IZDA, 28001 Madrid).

. Lina Bo Bardi. Un maravilloso enredo, by Isaac Julien - Galería Helga de Alvear (Calle del Dr. Fourquet, 12, 28012 Madrid).

. Subjects in Mirror are Closer tan they Appear, by Cristina Lucas - Galería Albarrán Bourdais (Calle de Jorge Juan, 12D, 28001 Madrid).

. Tropic-Ana, by Ana Mendieta - Galería NoguerasBlanchard (Calle del Dr. Fourquet, 4, 28012 Madrid).

. Tripalium, by Juan Luis Moraza - Espacio Mínimo Galería (Calle del Dr. Fourquet, 17, 28012 Madrid).

. Textura, tensión, espacio [1970-1985], by Aurèlia Muñoz - Galería José de la Mano (Calle de Zorrilla, 21, 28014 Madrid).

. Verão, by Ana Santos - Galería The Goma ​​(Calle de Fúcar, 12, 28014 Madrid).