Entangled Legacies of Space: Shows to See During ARCOmadrid
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To read about ARCOmadrid and what to see at the fair, read my post from last week:
Madrid Art Week extends well beyond the halls of IFEMA. Galleries and museums across the city synchronize some of their best shows with ARCOmadrid’s dates.
ARCOmadrid's New Galleries section’s curatorial approach can be seen in exhibitions throughout the city. Curators tackle Spain’s colonial ties to Latin America, which can be seen in historical and cultural narratives that embrace new, inclusive stories.
Cristina Anglada and Anissa Touati’s emphasis on "entangled legacies of space” focuses on the evolving needs of contemporary art practices and audiences to reposition interconnected histories and myths.
Here are some standout exhibitions and events that you won’t want to miss.
1. Tiffany Chung: 'Crossroads of Time'
Dates: February 22 – April 12, 2025
Location: Max Estrella Gallery
Address: Calle Santo Tomé, 6, Patio Interior, 28004 Madrid, Spain
Tiffany Chung’s ‘Crossroads of Time’ exhibition is at Max Estrella until April 12th, 2025.
Chung is a Vietnamese-American artist whose interdisciplinary practice looks at history on a global scale. Her works, ranging from meticulously hand-embroidered maps to paintings and sculptures, unravel historical spice trade routes and the social, political, economic, and environmental issues tied to them.
Here, she turns her attention to the 3,500-year-old spice trade and how it wove together Asia, Europe, Africa, and the Americas. The artist maps history as she hand-draws and embroiders maps of ancient trade routes, transforming dry data into something tactile while revealing how something as humble as a spice can connect continents and empires.
Learn More: Max Estrella Gallery
2. Painting from Mexico City: 'Esperando la primavera'
Dates: March 1-15, 2025
Opening: March 4, 2025, 12-3 PM & 6-9 PM
Location: Pop-Up
Address: C. de Belén, 2, Centro, 28004 Madrid, Spain
Galería Karen Huber from Mexico City is staging a pop-up exhibition called “Esperando la primavera” (“Waiting for Spring”) in a temporary space at Calle Belén 2 a few blocks from Max Estrella Gallery.
This pop-up, which runs from March 1st to the 15th and opens on March 4th, is the gallery’s first foray into Spain outside the walls of ARCOmadrid. Its clear mission is to bridge the Mexican and Spanish art scenes.
The works on view focus on contemporary painting and include work by Andrew Birk, Alejandra Laviad, Allan Villavicencio, Daniel Horowitz, Ian Grose, Los Bravú, Manuel Forte, Othiana Roffiel, and Yann Leto.
In conversation with Siroco Magazine, Huber speaks to why she chose to bring together a mix of the gallery’s core artists and special guests from both sides of the Atlantic:
“I have talked about this a lot with friends who are collectors and gallery owners from Northern Europe. I think that the (Madrid) art ecosystem works because there are many artists, independent projects, galleries, curators, critics, collectors, and great museums - they just need to trust each other a little more and take the risk of investing.
In addition, I have been part of ARCO for the past few years and have created a community, and I am interested in continuing to build with a pop-up. I chose these artists because it is a taste of the creators we work with, together with others with whom I have worked or am interested in starting. Europe seems to me to be a good platform to begin or rebuild these relationships.”
Huber discusses her view on the future of art patronage as well as the global context and interest in Latin American art. You can read the full interview in Siroco Magazine.
The exhibition is a great example of how ARCOmadrid sparks satellite events all over town and this year’s theme of nurturing cross-cultural dialogue and finding common ground through art.
Learn More: Galería Karen Huber
El Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Madrid | memoriademadrid
3. Masterpieces from the Museum of Contemporary Art: 'Symphony in the Key of MAC’
Dates: December 5, 2024 - June 1, 2025
Location: Museo de Arte Contemporáneo
Address: Calle del Conde Duque, 9, 28015 Madrid, Spain
The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (MAC), housed in the historic Conde Duque barracks, is showcasing “Symphony in the Key of MAC” until June 1st. This special exhibition is a greatest-hits selection from the museum’s modern art collection paired with their brand-new acquisitions.
In the last decade, the museum has been actively buying art from the ARCO and Estampa fairs and Apertura Gallery Weekend. The concept is a dialogue between past and present: a “symphony” of artworks in which contemporary pieces riff on modernist classics.
The exhibition emphasizes the 20th century's artistic ruptures with tradition, featuring artists Carmen Bald, Susana Solano, Julia Spinola, and Nacho Servant, who explore new meanings and challenge conventional beauty standards.
The MAC is smaller and more relaxed than the prominent national museums, which makes this exhibition perfect for a leisurely afternoon.
Learn More: The Museo de Arte Contemporáneo
4. Teresa Lanceta: 'The Shroud at the Break of Dawn'
Dates: January 24 – March 15, 2025
Location: 1 Mira Madrid
Address: Calle Doctor Fourquet, 4, 28012 Madrid, Spain
1 Mira Madrid, a gallery near the Reina Sofía museum, is hosting a powerful solo exhibition by Barcelona-born artist Teresa Lanceta. Titled ‘The Shroud at the Break of Dawn’ (La Cólcedra al filo del alba in Spanish), Lanceta’s show delves into memory, mourning, and the often invisible histories of women through the medium of textiles.
Lanceta, born in 1951, has spent decades elevating weaving and tapestry. The work invites you to experience textiles not as craft or decoration but as a carrier of cultural memory and female resilience.
In this exhibition, she presents hand-woven textiles and fabric pieces that connect medieval funerary shrouds with contemporary stories of resistance and violence. She “rescues ancestral techniques and symbols” traditionally used by women and repurposes them to question why women’s stories have so often been marginalized in art and history.
Learn More: 1 Mira Madrid
5. What to See in Madrid with Arte Madrid
One of the joys of visiting ARCOmadrid is that it serves as a gateway to Madrid’s thriving art scene. The city is packed with galleries, museums, and art spaces, many of which are a short hop from the fair or your hotel.
If you’re unsure where to start, Arte Madrid, the city's gallery association, offers a handy interactive map and district itineraries to guide you. You can pick a neighborhood and go for an art walk or plan your itinerary around exhibition openings.
Madrid’s galleries tend to cluster in certain barrios:
Dr. Fourquet Street in Lavapiés (near the Reina Sofía Museum, home to Picasso’s Guernica) is famous for its contemporary art galleries. You’ll find spaces known for showing emerging artists and experimental work along this street and its vicinity, including 1 Mira Madrid, Helga de Alvear, Maisterravalbuena, and La Casa Encendida.
The Salesas and Alonso Martínez areas (around streets Barquillo, Piamonte, and Santo Tomé) form another art hub. Galleries here, including Max Estrella and Travesía Cuatro, are nestled among boutiques and cafés. The area offers a pleasant afternoon of gallery-hopping, shopping, and coffee breaks.
If you happen to be in Madrid in September, take note: that’s when Apertura Madrid Gallery Weekend kicks off the season with citywide openings and events. It’s like a mini-art fair spread across town, and many of the galleries you visit during ARCO also participate in Apertura.
The city’s art scene is about experiencing the neighborhoods and communities that sustain that art.
Learn More: Arte Madrid
Entangled Legacies of Space
In addition to Arte Madrid’s map, you can also use my Madrid City Guide. It includes an interactive map of ARCOmadrid, my favorite galleries, and the exhibitions mentioned in this post.
From the dynamic installations at ARCOmadrid and the intricate works of Tiffany Chung and Teresa Lanceta to the historic flavors of Botín and the avant-garde creations at DiverXO, Madrid in March offers rich experiences.
As you explore ARCOmadrid 2025 and the many exhibitions surrounding it, you’ll see how a region's legacy (be it the Amazon, Spain, or elsewhere) can remind us that art doesn’t exist in a vacuum. Instead, it’s intertwined with place, history, and community.
You’ll trace threads from a Brazilian rainforest to a Spanish tapestry, from a Caribbean festival to a European spice route. And you’ll become part of these entangled stories.