ARCOmadrid 2013 focuses on the international market and online business opportunities

International participation in the fair ARCOmadrid rises to 66%, the highest for several years, with 133 foreign galleries. A total of 201 galleries from 27 countries and more than 2,000 artists will be represented in Madrid, from 13 to 17 February.

From 13 to 17 February Madrid hosts a new edition of ARCOmadrid, the International Contemporary Art Fair organised by IFEMA, which for the last 32 years has made the Spanish capital a significant hub attracting collectors, gallerists, artists and art professionals from all over the world.

For its 32nd edition, ARCOmadrid is bringing together a total of 201 galleries from 27 countries, 146 of which are participating in the General Programme and 55 in the Curated Programmes. It is the most international edition of recent years, with 66% foreign participation - 133 galleries. A markedly international profile, to which can be added the attendance of 150 professionals, 90% from abroad, and 250 active foreign collectors. This reach is largely thanks to the international promotion efforts of ARCOmadrid over the last year.

Halls 8 and 10 of Feria de Madrid will host galleries from practically every continent. One of the major attractions of the Fair will be FOCUS TURKEY, a section which enjoys the collaboration of the Turkish Embassy to Spain and the participation of the curator Vasif Kortun, director of research and programmes at SALT Istanbul, and the assistant curator Lara Fresko, writer and art professional, who have selected the 10 Turkish galleries which will take part in the programme.

The international presence also plays a major role in the curated programmes. For example, OPENING: YOUNG GALLERIES brings together 25 galleries from Asia, America and Europe which have been operating for less than seven years, selected by Manuel Segade, curator and art critic, and Veronica Roberts, curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Blanton Museum in Austin, Texas.

Also, SOLO PROJECTS, in partnership with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (Agencia Española de Cooperación Internacional para el Desarrollo, AECID) gathers 21 art projects by Latin American artists selected by the curators Inti Guerrero, associate artistic director of TEOR/éTica (Costa Rica); Catalina Lozano, independent curator and co-founder of de_sitio (Mexico); Gabriel Pérez Barreiro, manager of Fundación Cisneros /Patricia Phelps de Cisneros Collection, (New York and Caracas); Alexia Tala, independent curator (Chile), and Cristiana Tejo, independent curator (Brazil).

Meanwhile, large-scale works of art are concentrated in SOLO OBJECTS, a section showing a total of 17 projects from Spanish and international galleries, again curated by Manuel Blanco, professor of architectural composition at ETSAM-UPM.

ARCO Collect online is the highlight of the Fair's new technological features

In this edition, ARCOmadrid has introduced some new technological initiatives, with the creation of an online art market and the launch of a discussion forum.

One of the most important new features at ARCOmadrid is the launch of ARCO Collect online, a virtual sales platform in partnership with Paddle 8, which from 7 to 24 February will offer a selection of more than 1,000 works of art from the galleries taking part in the Fair, priced up to 5,000 euros. It also has a physical space in Hall 10, where some of the works available online, selected by the curator Tania Pardo, will be on show.

This online art sales initiative is complemented offline by the free in-person advice service offered by ARCOmadrid for starting a collection or purchasing works of art. The First Collectors programme, co-ordinated by Elisa Hernando from the consulting firm Arte Global, offers support for all visitors to the Fair who need advice on choosing and acquiring works at ARCOmadrid.

The Fair completes its digital services with the launch of ARCO Bloggers (www.arcobloggers.com), a collaborative online publishing experiment, conceived and co-ordinated by Roberta Bosco and Stefano Caldana. With this project, ARCOmadrid supports a new discussion forum for the art industry, with the most influential Spanish and international contemporary art bloggers contributing their content and opinions. Since last autumn, ARCO Bloggers has promoted online analysis and discussion while combining analogue and digital platforms.

This experiment will also have a meeting point in real life on Friday 15 and Saturday 16 February with the ARCO Bloggers Forum, titled “Contemporary art: online tools and strategies”, with the participation of Spain's leading contemporary art bloggers and international tastemakers with an outstanding online presence and activity.

ARCOmadrid will be held in IFEMA Halls 8 and 10, from 13 to 17 February, between 12.00 and 20.00, except Wednesday 13, when it closes at 21.00.

Source: ARCOmadrid