MADRID, SPAIN.-ARCO, the international contemporary art fair, will be inaugurated today by Juan Carlos, king of Spain and Vicente Fox, president of Mexico. The fair takes place from February 9-14. It will invite 291 galleries from 35 countries, 84 from Spain and 205 foreign galleries. Mexico will be the guest country, the first Latin-American country to be a guest country. According to Rosina Gómez Baeza, director of the event, they received more than 600 applications. Last year they invited 277 galleries, of which 96 were from Spain. This next edition will have a lower Spanish participation. The fair will be extended an extra day, Monday. There will be a new space called Black Box with auviovisual, multimedia and internet art.
Galleries, artists, curators, collectors, mediators and agents from the international art circuit will all participate in the 24th International Contemporary Art Fair, to be held in Madrid from 10 – 14 February. This event, organised by IFEMA, annually brings together the best of the global art scene today through programming known for its quality, richness, and diversity. These three hallmarks of ARCO’s project have consolidated its international status, making it one of the most attractive art fairs in the world, and this edition will see yet another high-end selection of work, with fascinating programming by renowned international guest curators.
After 24 years of promoting and exploring new areas of artistic creation, ARCO today is a unique referent on the international scene. Its specialisation in the primary market; its guidelines stressing art from the second half of the 20th century, and the art of today; and its evolution towards seeking out new creative models and innovative exhibition venues—all of this and much more have positioned the show at the forefront of art fairs on the international scene.
The International Contemporary Art Fair will bring together 290 galleries from all over the world. The presence of established galleries side by side with emerging galleries with a marked international slant are proof of the show’s high standards, pushed even higher by the contribution of a top-flight team of international curators. Their wide-ranging proposals and content, going from a major retrospective on Mexican contemporary art to the latest forms of Russian realism, along with the contrast between emerging Latino art and a new generation of artists whose projects involved the latest technological media—all of this and more offers visitor a plural programme through which ARCO has created innovative spaces for exhibition and promotion, making the 2005 edition an ideal means for taking the pulse of today’s art market.
Among the major attractions of ARCO’05 will be the exceptional programming of its special guest country, Mexico. Another surprising new feature is the curated invitational THE BLACK BOX@ARCO, with an attractive selection of work showing new dimensions in media art, and the new generation of artists specialising in audiovisual and multimedia work. Another new sections will include ARCO Latino (for emerging Latino art), 2OSLO5 (new expressions from the Nordic scene), and PAINTING ONLY (a fresh look at painting as an emerging discourse).
Moreover, ARCO’s commitment to a multidisciplinary approach will take pride of place yet another year with its ephemeral architecture programme, featuring different actions and projects at the art fair itself and other spaces around Madrid, as well as the incorporation of contemporary dance, presented for the first time at Madrid’s 5th Contemporary Scene Festival.
Another novelty can be seen in ARCO’s Official Catalogue, which will be published on paper and a CD-ROM incorporating moving images, both to be available a month before the art fair with the aim of achieving a better, broader dissemination of the show’s artistic programming.
