ARCO 2007 logo
ARCO 2007 logo
ARCO’07
Madrid, 15 – 19 February, 2007
The International Contemporary Art Fair, ARCO, will hold its twenty-sixth edition in Madrid from 15 – 19 February 2007, featuring a major selection of galleries and a fascinating exhibition programme. ARCO’07 will show the event’s special commitment to quality, featuring leading names on the international gallery scene, specialising in everything from the historic avant-garde movements to Modern and Contemporary Masters. Moreover, the presence of emerging artists will make up a new, unique section, called Projects. Lastly, a major contingent representing Asian art takes centre stage, with this year’s special guest, South Korea, showing new dimensions in art through an attractive selection of high-profile artists from this country.
Plurality is one of the key characteristics of this year’s exhibition, with its diversity of art movements and disciplines, from traditional pieces to high-tech installations, bearing a special hallmark of quality, and a high degree of internationality. All of this will ring in a new chapter in the fair’s history, under the direction of Lourdes Fernández, combining continuity and innovation to meet the new challenges of today’s international art scene. ARCO is also welcoming a new Organising Committee, and a large team of curators which will focus on exploring new areas of creation and new trends in contemporary art, once again guaranteeing the quality of an unmissable event for collectors, buyers, and art professionals from around the world-all united by their common interest in contemporary art.
A new design for the art fair in 2007, the presence of new art projects, and changes in some of ARCO’s parallel activities, such as its International Experts Forum, whose activities will continue throughout the year, are some of the cornerstones upon which the event will build its future. ARCO is also saying goodbye this year to its traditional venue, halls 7 and 9 at IFEMA, because in 2008 it will move to a new space: Feria de Madrid’s brand-new halls 12 and 14, opening up fresh possibilities for ARCO’s layout and programming.
A Look at Asian Art
With the participation of South Korea as this year’s special guest country, ARCO will, for the first time in its history, put the spotlight on the continent of Asia, featuring one of its emerging international art centres, with an exciting local scene. A pavilion designed by Jung-Hwa Kim, Director of Museums Korea in Seoul, and curated by Jeong Ah Shin, Chief Curator of Sungkok Art Museum and a professor at Dongguk University, will show a group of 15 South Korean artists, all represented by leading galleries from that country. These high-profile artists will present work created both in traditional media and incorporating the latest technology, and which even question traditional art. South Korea’s programme at ARCO will encompass painting, installations, video, electronic art, and a wide variety of themes and artistic intentions, ranging from aesthetic exploration to socially conscious themes. As is the case every year, this section will have its own parallel programme of exhibitions and cultural events around the Spanish capital which will round off the organisers’ vision of South Korean art and culture. These will be part of the South Korea Now cultural programme, to include events in other parts of Spain over the course of 2007.
The Art Fair
ARCO’07 will feature 255 art galleries-85 Spanish, and 170 international-from some 30 countries. The fair’s continual renovation is highlighted by the fact that many of these galleries, 54 in all, are first-time exhibitors at ARCO. Europe is the best represented continent, with 192 galleries, including major contingents from Germany and Austria (the ARCO’06 guest country), as well as the rest of Central Europe and Portugal. The Americas will be present in 52 stands, headed by the 19 US galleries a nd a high-profile group of Latin Americans, once again confirming ARCO’s status as the gateway to Europe for Latin American art. Noteworthy here is Brazil, with 13 galleries, providing a taste of its ARCO’08 pavilion, when it will be the special guest country. Asia, for its part, will be represented by 11 galleries, and Iran will be at the fair for the first time.
A Major New Emerging Art Section
ARCO’07 will feature a new space, PROJECTS, which will consolidate and continue the philosophy of ARCO’s established curated invitationals, aimed at presenting site-specific proposals selected by independent curators, with the aim of supporting the production of alternative work on the contemporary art scene. The selection of proposals which participate in PROJECTS was made by a team of independent curators and the ARCO Organising Committee.
Thirty of these proposals have been selected by Carol Lu , Chus Martínez, David Liss, Paola Santoscoy, Virginia Pérez Ratton, Fernando Cocchiarale, Moacir dos Anjos and Ricardo Resende, all hailing from different parts of Europe and America. Standouts here are the Brazilian galleries-11 in all-which three of the curators have focused on exclusively, and which will serve as a preview of Brazil’s stint as special guest in 2008. This group will be complemented by another 32 proposals selected by the ARCO Organising Committee, encompassing such media as painting and photography, along with an outstanding display of video, installations, and electronic art in more groundbreaking formats.
The Black Box
New technologies, audiovisuals, and electronic art will have their own showcase in THE BLACK BOX, now a veteran section which continues, year after year, to show the flag for electronic projects and experimental art, with the aim of firming up its niche within the market. The curators Carolina Grau and Marc-Olivier Wahle selected nine European galleries to participate in this year’s space. In 2007, the section will focus more strongly on professionalism, and will once again serve as the venue for the BEEP Awards, whilst giving a higher profile to the institutional facet of video collecting.
General Programme
Together will all of this, for another year, the GENERAL PROGRAMME will be at the core of the art fair. Rigour, quality, professionalism, and international impact have been the guiding criteria in the selection made by the new Organising Committee, which chose 211 galleries out of 550 applicants. Of the galleries selected, 83 are from Spain and 128 from abroad, a proportion (40% vs. 60%) which has become the fair’s established norm. This year’s General Programme is, once again, characterised by its strikingly wide-ranging representation of styles, with a major contingent of Modern Masters, and top names from the international gallery scene, specialising in work running the gamut from the historic avant-garde movements to the latest trends.
International Experts Forum
Another established event at ARCO is the International Experts Forum on contemporary art, to be held at the art fair, featuring a large group of curators, academics, and other experts, taking part in conferences and panel debates. This year the forum will launch a new format, becoming decentralised in time as well as space-holding more sessions throughout the year, in different venues around Spain. The first of these was held on 27 November at the ICO Foundation in Madrid, under the title Video and Film: New Channels of Distribution, which looked at the marketing trends for these two media as they become more consolidated on the art scene.
Collector programme
The 26th edition of ARCO will also include the presence of prestigious contemporary art magazines from around the world. Moreover, public institutions and corporations will continue to play their part as major exhibitors and collectors at ARCO’07. The art fair will also take its first steps to reinforce its role as a sales showcase and as a point of encounter for the international contemporary art market, devoting special attention to private as well as institutional and corporate collectors. Approximately 200 collectors from around the world will arrive in Madrid as part of a revamped edition of the Guest Collectors programme. Exclusive pre-inaugural showings on Wednesday the 14th and Thursday the 15th of February aim to provide them with an ideal setting for seeing all of the work on display and making their acquisitions in a more elite, and totally professional, atmosphere. Corporate collecting will take on a new dimension this year; an example is the sponsorship of the automotive firm Hyundai, with the Berge Group, which be running the ARCO VIP Lounge. The group has a major contemporary art collection which will be on show there-and Hyundai is a South Korean brand, further raising the special guest country’s profile at ARCO’07.
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