Call for galleries 2020

The call for applications to ARCOmadrid 2020 is now open.

Building on the remarkable critical and commercial success of last year’s edition of the fair, ARCOmadrid 2020—which will take place in the Spanish capital February 26–March 1, 2020—will continue its efforts to connect contemporary art to society in general, while at the same time promoting art collecting at every level, from the most established to the youngest collectors.

Maintaining the fair’s innovative recent direction, the centerpiece of ARCOmadrid 2020 will be a special thematic section titled “It’s Just a Matter of Time.” Curated by Alejandro Cesarco, Mason Leaver-Yap and Manuel Segade. “It’s Just a Matter of Time” will take as its conceptual point of departure the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres and the extraordinary reach of its influence in contemporary art and discourse. In particular, the curators cite Gonzalez-Torres’s radical approach to “the means of distribution, the participation of the spectator in the work, the possibility of introducing emotional content to conceptual strategies, the transformation of the everyday into the symbolic, the use political activism as a poetic strategy, and the stitching together of public and private” as fundamental notions for understanding the art of the 21st century, and which they will trace within a wide range of contemporary art practices at ARCOmadrid 2020.

As has become its hallmark of the fair, ARCOmadrid 2020—now celebrating its 39th annual edition—will take advantage of its unique position bridging the European and Latin American art worlds. The fair will offer a platform for Latin American artists—including those based in other parts of the world—as well as the Latin American market by presenting the work in stands throughout the fair, in the wide-ranging General Section, as well as in the fair’s curated programs such as Dialogues, curated by Agustín Pérez Rubio and Lucía Sanromán, and Opening, curated by Tiago de Abreu Pinto and Övul Ö. Durmusoglu. 

As always, ARCOmadrid 2020 will also host an extensive program of professional activities, inviting critics, curators, museum directors and major art world figures to participate in a wide-ranging program of panel discussions and professional encounters. These events—a highly-anticipated element of the fair year after year—offer a broad spectrum of art world figures an opportunity to discuss projects and debate ideas, while incorporating their visions and voices into the fair’s overall activities.

Applications for ARCOmadrid 2020 will be accepted until July 5. Detailed instructions are available on the fair’s website.