ARCOmadrid 2023 International Contemporary Art Fair returns to Ifema Madrid from February 22-26 in anticipation of recovering pre-pandemic figures and overcoming the “slowdown” experienced in the art market over the past two years.
“We believe that the 2020 figures will recover when they reach 90 thousand” Visitor“, This year’s economic figures are “to the pre-pandemic years and even slightly higher”, though Juan Arrizabalaga, general manager of Ifema Madrid, recalled at a press conference that the fair did not give a breakdown of bills.
“We are very pleased that there is so much interest from the galleries, without interest there is no success in the end,” said Arrizabalaga. characterize this edition as the “key”. “We hope it will revive the market after two years of slowdown,” he added.
As for whether the current inflation situation can affect this pressure as well.ARCO director Maribel López reiterated the importance of looking at the “relevance” of participation by galleries.. The evaluation of the other fairs we have from the participating galleries and our basis is what we get from this interest. It is not possible for us to make an evaluation for other projects,” he said.
In total, this edition will have 211 exhibiting galleries from 36 countries – 170 for the general program – meaning 66% of foreign galleries and another commitment to the “internationalisation” of the fair. In addition, It also envisions a “bigger than ever” participation of over 400 collectors at the suggestion of participating galleries.
“The committee met in September and we saw that very good international galleries wanted to come in October”announced Maribel López, ARCO director. Usually the figures for the fair move around 200 galleries and this number was not exceeded as a matter of “balance”.
Internationalization of Arc
“We tested it and we believe this balance between supply and demand is working, so we wanted to keep that number. The truth is that if we took out other galleries this year, someone would be hurt, and we want to care and protect the national scene: it’s done responsibly.”, he explained, after the number of national galleries “neither increased nor decreased.”
This “internationalization” intention was brought up in relation to ARCO’s position vis-à-vis other international fairs in the industry, such as Art Basel. “Rankings are deadly because they create a lot of tension and ARCO has its own health”, Lopez noticed.
“What makes the difference is not to get stuck with what’s here or there, we all know what fairs are, but I won’t name them, but they are our reference. In recent years we have made a breakthrough in quality and ARCO can never be compared to other fairs because what we are trying to research is different.‘ he underlined.
Spaces for female artists
López also mentioned the presence of female artists at the fair. “In the last two yearsThe fair does not control the content of the galleries. We used to be able to present an arrangement or proposal to convey that at a given moment we were aware that equality did not exist, but now we realize that this is increasingly taking place in galleries, and we also say that certain spaces are exclusively for women. It seemed very reducing,” he concluded.
The research topic of the fair this year will be ‘Mediterranean: A Round Sea’, curated by Marina Fokidis. There will also be two more curated episodes: “Allianz Opening” with the theme of “Evolution gallery” and “It’s never the same again.” Latin American Art’.
Source: Informacion
Brandon Hall is an author at “Social Bites”. He is a cultural aficionado who writes about the latest news and developments in the world of art, literature, music, and more. With a passion for the arts and a deep understanding of cultural trends, Brandon provides engaging and thought-provoking articles that keep his readers informed and up-to-date on the latest happenings in the cultural world.