The director of the fair considers the impact of the pandemic to be overcome and detects «effervescence» in the commercial field. The 44th International Contemporary Art Fair ARCOmadrid 2025, which will be held at Ifema Madrid from March 5 to 9, will be marked by the death on February 3 of the emblematic gallery owner and collector Helga de Alvear, according to director Maribel López.
The fair director began the presentation with a tribute to the art collector and regular at ARCOmadrid, who passed away at the age of 88 after a life dedicated to contemporary art. «I want to start with a tribute to Helga de Alvear, whom we already miss so much, to the gallery owner and collector who will not be with us at Arco this year,» lamented López.
In total, the general program will bring together 214 galleries from 36 countries –9 more galleries than in the previous edition. Although 67% of the offerings will be international, Ifema Madrid’s director, Arancha Priede Leza, highlighted the presence of Latin America, representing over 32% of the foreign presence.
Likewise, she reiterated «the strength» of the Spanish contemporary art scene and anticipated that national galleries would have a 33% presence.
Among the curated programs are ‘Wametisé: ideas for an amazofuturism’, the central theme of the fair, with the participation of 15 galleries from 6 countries, reflecting on «new modes of creation that represent hybrid existences between human, plant, physical, and metaphysical bodies.»
«That Amazon project stems from research we started in 2022 around water as a connector between the ideas of this fair project. How can we imagine ways to connect through art and not ways to separate through many other means? Water seemed like a good metaphor to us, and that project has progressed to now reach the Amazon,» explained López.
Other curated projects include the ‘Opening’, where 18 new galleries from 13 countries with a maximum of 7 years of experience will bring new artists; ‘Profiles. Latin American Art’, which will explore collaboration with Latin American artists and galleries with a selection of 10 galleries from 7 countries; and ‘Artist Projects’, an initiative where 32 galleries present 32 artist projects designed for installation in spaces throughout the fair.
López has explained that their commercial forecasts are based on the «interest» and «desire» received, so she believes that the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic is already behind us, and she observes an «effervescence» in the new edition.
NEW CLOSED-DOOR MEETINGS
Asked about the organization issues in past editions that led to large groups attending during the first days, López has revealed that aspects such as visits by these attendees on the first day have been drastically reduced, and closed-door meetings have been organized.
«In recent years, we have received a lot of desire from very important groups to make visits: banking clients, auditors, and people with a high potential for purchasing, for whom an event is organized. Although it is very good news because it is a present or future interest for galleries, we must work to ensure that this is a future success and not an immediate problem,» she reflected.
Thus, the fair expects to receive «approximately» 500 people who will come to Madrid attracted by the program of international collectors and professionals, as well as 150 professionals from museums –directors, curators– who are independent or linked to these institutions.
INSTITUTIONAL PURCHASES
Although López did not want to disclose all the data, she did mention that entities such as the Junta de Andalucía are among the institutions making art purchases, in addition to private buyers.
She also noted that the budget for the fair remains the same and is part of the overall budget of Ifema Madrid, so they assess success with other metrics, such as the percentage of galleries that want to participate again the following year, which currently stands at 90%.
FUENTE
