September marks the beginning of the academic and artistic calendar. Galleries, cultural agents, art centers and exhibition spaces are getting ready for Apertura. They all pull out their muscle in an effort to show their proposals for this new season. It is the official presentation and art lovers await with interest and curiosity what will be the guidelines that will mark this "course".

Galleries have an arduous and, at times, colossal task ahead of them. It should not be forgotten that the art sector has been clearly harmed during the pandemic. The impossibility of opening their spaces and the limitations inherent to the pandemic circumstances have meant that many of these centers have suffered more than could be expected.

For the first time since 2019, this event is held without any restrictions. It is the moment when all these spaces join forces to invite visitors to participate in their events. Art and, more specifically, contemporary art has always had to fight against the prejudices inherent to its nature. A titanic struggle if we take into account that for a significant part of the population contemporary art is "dispensable".  Although during the pandemic artists, cultural agents, institutions and a long etcetera have made a great effort to launch online initiatives to entertain the audience during the period of confinement, this has not translated into greater support for culture. Because let's not forget that we are talking about culture, as Lucía Mendoza, vice-president of Arte Madrid, says: "Contemporary art is not only a reflection and a driving force for each of us as individuals, but also the testimony and construction of the heritage that will shape our legacy as a society on which future generations will grow".

Art has faithfully fulfilled its purpose for centuries: to preserve and perpetuate norms, customs and traditions. Freed from that function by technological advances, the twentieth and twenty-first centuries have given it the opportunity to develop new forms of communication and expression. Artists have developed new languages in a yearning to describe the vertiginous events taking place in the society in which they are immersed.  

If we were to go out on the street and ask this simple question: What is art? we would see that many of those surveyed would not know what to answer or would simply limit themselves to not giving an answer out of a certain embarrassment or shyness. For many, galleries are aseptic spaces, white cubes more akin to a hospital ward than a center for cultural training and entertainment. A recurring obstacle they have to face in their day-to-day work because we are talking about communication. Communicating is an extremely complex act. The idea of sender-message-receiver is too simple. It is devoid of the necessary nuances to be able to describe the phenomenon that the art scene represents. If we add to this the fact that each proposal aims at transmitting its own message, the task is even more difficult.

For all these reasons, Apertura presents its slogan: ¡Vente de galerías! A clear and open invitation to everyone to participate. The date is September 8 and for four days (September 8 to 11), 55 Madrid galleries will host all kinds of events designed not only for professionals but also for the general public. The program seeks to foster that dialogue, that communication between contemporary art and other cultural disciplines.

Those who wish can enjoy guided tours to discover the most outstanding proposals and activities to explore the different spaces. If visitors want to set their own pace, they can do so using the free Arte Madrid app, which allows them to design their own route according to their interests and the area they are in. The application is very intuitive and allows you to select galleries, artists, itineraries, etc. It offers the possibility of having a panoramic view of the gallery network in Madrid as we can access the 7 itineraries organized according to their geographical location by neighborhoods and the galleries located in each of them: Centro, Salesas, Lavapiés, Letras, Salamanca, Chamberí and, finally, Otros distritos.

If we start our tour of the Centro area, we find an essential appointment: Sabrina Amrani's proposal "History in fragments". It is a group exhibition that presents a selection of works with ceramics as the central axis. The exhibition traces some of the strategies employed by artists Manal AlDowayan, Joël Andrianomearisoa, Gabriela Bettini, Julia Llerena, Timo Nasseri, Edison Peñafiel and Luis Úrculo. In addition to this proposal, Sabrina Amrani invites us to "Random Desires For A Certain Kind Of Architecture" by Joël Andrianomearisoa in her space at Sallaberry, 52.

In the same area, and after the success of "Fórmula" by Elena Alonso, Espacio Valverde offers us "Volver" by Luis Vasallo while Twin Gallery starts the season with "Tallo que clavo" by Mónica Mays.

Strolling through the Salesas, we came across Albarrán Bourdais' proposal "Casa negra" (Black House), by Cuban artist Marco A. Castillo, founder of the Los Carpinteros collective. María Macías (Artizense) collaborates in the development of this proposal inspired in the Cuban design and interior design of the 60's that raises a game where different typographies and abstract geometric shapes hide messages with a strong political and social component. Macías will also be present at the opening of the new exhibition space of Nogueras Blanchard where the gallery dedicates its first exhibition to the visual poet Joan Brossa and invites Juf (Beatriz Ortega and Leticia Ybarra) to the project, who will activate a catalog between the artist's work and contemporary practices through poetry.

From there, strolling we can reach another of the unavoidable appointments: "Turbulence" the proposal of Max Estrella and his artist Daniel Canogar. Daniel addresses one of the issues that most concerns (or should concern) today's society: the saturation of information and the addictive relationship with social media that we humans suffer in this digital age, as well as the ability we have to manage this "contemporary information indigestion".

If we continue with the walk, we arrive at Lucía Mendoza where we are presented "Proyecto Salinas" by Luna Bengoechea, an artist who in her projects always tries to give visibility to the natural and patrimonial value of the spaces. The project encompasses, through different audiovisual media, large-scale drawings made with sea salt. 

On our way through Lavapiés we come across "Elogio a la densidad", an interesting proposal by Moisés Pérez de Albéniz Gallery where we can enjoy the works of Ángela de la Cruz, Rubén Guerrero, Secundino Hernández or Juan Uslé, among others. Maisterravalbuena starts the season with the work of A. Kassen and Silvestre Gallery with "La Perspectiva Curiosa" by the Sevillian Gloria Martin. Another essential visit in our tour is the selection of pieces by Lucio Fontana that Helga de Alvear Gallery presents at the beginning of the season. If we are looking for smaller and more intimate spaces, we can stop at options like XF Proyectos, which shows "Fugitivas" by Jose Bechara.

In the Barrio de las Letras, antiquity and contemporaneity coexist in perfect harmony. We can enter an antique store and, immediately after, enjoy exhibitions such as those of The Goma, where we find "Paintings" by Cristina Garrido. The artist reflects on the ideological implications in the use of color or its oblivion. Walking down the street we arrive at Formato Cómodo, which presents "A veces hay que romper las reglas", a very suggestive title for a site-specific project developed clandestinely at the Royal Academy of Arts (London) by Tania Blanco and that revolves around the perception of the artistic object and the capitalist principles that currently condition and define the ecosystem of Art and the market.

If we get lost in the streets of this beautiful area of Madrid, we reach another destination that we should not miss: "MANOLO GIL [1957] ... in the wake of Oteiza", the proposal of José de la Mano. We say goodbye to this neighborhood with "Intestinal Affair" by Día Muñoz at Ponce+Robles. 

If the walk is extended and we reach the Salamanca area we can visit "Aquel momento. Ese momento" by Jesús Zurita in Herrero de Tejada. In the words of its director Amalio Gaitero: "[...] the exhibition develops and reflects on the idea of the myth and the rite that inevitably derives from it and the monster that it ends up generating with the passing of time". Zurita uses his characteristic pictorial language where he combines the organic and geometry in his perennial quest to create oneiric spaces.

Álvaro Alcázar presents "Shadowpieces", which covers the last three years of Peter Krauskopf's artistic production in which he reflects and investigates the spaces of light and darkness that he leaves in his works. And we say goodbye to the neighborhood with We Collect where its director Enrique del Río presents the exhibition “Piki” by Nuria Mora on adolescence and the everyday life of family relationships, home and nostalgia.

Strolling through Chamberí we cannot miss Elvira González, who starts the season with the fifth solo exhibition dedicated to Adolfo Schlosser, which presents more than forty works spanning the period 1973-2002 and where the artist reflects on nature as a living organism and not as a medium.

Carlier Gebauer presents "My arms will renew" by Laure Prouvost and in Marlborough we can visit and enjoy the work of the Galician Francisco Leiro and his exhibition "A filla da porteira". For lovers and nostalgic of the Equipo 57 era, Freijo Gallery presents "Juan Cuenca, a story of many dimensions" and its indissoluble relationship between architecture and art, paying special attention to natural light in interior spaces. And in Cayón we will find the sculptural work of Shapiro, a story that serves as a passage and that has as its starting point his exhibition in Menorca last August. 

The artistic experience that makes up Apertura not only includes visits to these galleries, but also offers other experiences. Madrid is a prolific city in artistic terms and we can find during our walks with smaller spaces open to the public throughout the city, but with interesting proposals from emerging artists. In Arniches26 we can enjoy the work of Paula Sánchez Benito. Another point of special interest is Aparador Monteleón, an independent project space created by artist Aldo Chaparro that aims to give visibility and offer a common place for different cultural and artistic agents in Madrid through a series of small-format curatorial projects. 

MALA FAMA estudios is another outstanding proposal. Located on Avenida Pedro Díez, it moves away from the circuit of the center of the capital. It is conceived as a space that favors the communication and realization of events related to artistic creation and innovation from a participatory and functional bet. The space is managed by several artists such as Carlos Aires, Paula Anta and Alejandro Botubol, among others. You can visit their studios as well as those of the resident artists, chat with them, see how they work and develop their production. In short, a safe bet for this weekend. (It is important to contact the artists to check their availability during these busy days).

Along the same lines, another almost "forced" visit is Nave Oporto, a former textile production warehouse now converted into nine art studios. In the group in charge of this project of coexistence and work we find artists of the stature of Irma Álvarez-Laviada, FOD, Santiago Giralda, Miki Leal (who presents "Un kilo de verde" with Benveniste Contemporary), Miguel Ángel Tornero or Sonia Navarro, Juan de Andrés Arias and Santiago Ydáñez, among others.

Not all the representatives of the Madrilian art sphere are listed here. It is impossible to synthesize in a few lines the entire Madrid art panorama. This is a small sample that shows, as it is clear from the previous words, that Madrid is fertile, rich in its artistic scene. The offer covers a wide range of options for all tastes and interests. There is no excuse to miss it...

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

Come in, see and enjoy. 

Welcome to Apertura Madrid Gallery Weekend. 

RUBÉN ALVES is a teacher and art collector. Since 2018 he has been managing the Instagram profile @beninmadrid, dedicated to giving visibility to contemporary art and emerging artists both at national and international level. As part of this activity, he has collaborated with institutions such as the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza as well as in art patronage work.

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