Over the last few years, in contemporary art theory circles, a debate has arisen once again regarding one of the most conflictive issues that Western aesthetics has faced since the birth of the historic avant-garde movements. This reflection on the centres of power and their relationship with the so-called peripheral cultures, as well as the analysis of such ambiguous terms as innovation, progress, evolution, or advance, have led, if not to conclusive solutions, at least to some interesting ideas. The goal of ARCO 2002 is to address these issues and explore these ideas.
Exhaustive analyses have already been made of the problematic relationship that the more economically developed countries or social groups have maintained with other cultural expressions, to reach the conclusion that not only were artistic experiences such as Cubism or Expressionism responsible for promoting a biased image of those expressions, but that this confusion was also generated by the discourse of academics, economists, and anthropologists who, in their defence of a lineal evolution of humanity, labelled uncivilised peoples as primitives or as yet undeveloped.
Because this evidently short-sighted view, which led to the loss of endless creative and mythological possibilities, took a long time to be responsibly accepted as such, the 20th century persisted, throughout the Modernist period, in misinterpreting the creative expressions of those cultures, based fundamentally in Asia, Latin America, and Africa.
Galleries
250 galleries of Modern, Contemporary,
Emerging and Experimental Art (paintings,
sculpture, installations, photography, video and
new media art, edition, drawings and multiples):
100 Spanish Galleries and 150 Foreign Galleries.
net.space@arco
Special installations will be available for galleries,
specialised publications, and private and corporate
contemporary art institutions to present their
websites and offer online information about their
collections and services. Other websites
presenting services for Contemporary Art
Galleries will also be eligible.
The 20th Century Revisited
Renowned galleries exhibiting Modern Masters
from the first half of the century.
Proyecto Salas
Institutional and Corporate Collections.
Specialised Press
Art Magazines. Special and Alternative Editions.
Art Bookstores. CD-Rom Editions. Online
Magazines.
INVITATIONALS (Curated Programmes)
SPECIAL GUEST COUNTRY, AUSTRALIA
A selection of Australian galleries and art
magazines
Thursday 14th February: A series of
lectures and panel discussions in which
artists, curators, art critics, art collectors
and museum directors will focus on the
current Australian contemporary art
scene.
PROJECT ROOMS: BORDERS
Salah Hassan, Rosa Martínez and
Octavio Zaya will select 27 site-specific
works presented by as many
artists/galleries.
CUTTING EDGE INVITATIONALS
52 Non-Spanish galleries with
avant-garde proposals, selected by
prestigious curators for the following
Programmes:
Asian Party, Global Game II -
Curated by Hou Hanru
Cityscapes: Paris-Berlin-New
York-Tokyo - Curated by Jérôme
Sans, Klaus Biesenbach, Carolyn
Christov-Bakargiev and Fumio Nanjo
Critical Undercurrents: USA -
Curated by Steven Rand
Crossroads -Galleries from several
parts of the world selected by Rafael
Doctor
Migrations to/from the Caribbean -
Mª Inés Rodríguez and Antonio Zaya, in
collaboration with Victor Zamudio Taylor
will select galleries from Central America
and the Caribbean
Between the Commercial and the
Alternative -- Galleries selected by
Paula Toppila
Altadis Public Art / Open Spaces
An exhibition area indoors (pavilions 7
and 9) and outdoors (1,500 sq.m. approx.)
will feature sculptures and installation
works presented at ARCO by galleries
from Spain and around the world
selected by Nicolas Bourriaud and
Jérôme Sans.
SIMULTANEOUSLY
Panel Discussions
Programmes developed by prestigious artists,
curators, art collectors and museum directors, who
will present their latest projects and debate major
issues: On Art in Australia Now; New Attitudes
Towards Art Collecting: in Museums, Private &
Corporate, Photography and New Media; Art,
Architecture and Space; Curatorial Practice
Today; New Art Spaces; Museums on the Web;
Art and Feminism; Emerging Selectors in the
Spanish Contemporary Art Scene; Artists Talks;
Art and Art Critics; Migrations to/from The
Caribbean Sea; Public Art.
Major Collectors at ARCO
A specific social programme for eminent
contemporary art collectors invited to the Fair.
The ARCO Foundation
The Foundation will continue to acquire artworks
at this next edition of the Fair, with a budget
higher than ever in order to add major pieces to its
holdings, already one of the most important
collections of its kind in Spain.
Photographic Glimpses. Photography
Collection of the Amigos de ARCO
Association
A group of Australian, French and Spanish
photographers will offer their personal visions of
ARCO02. These photographs will then form part
of the ARCO Photography Collection.
Social Programme
All the citys a Fair: during ARCO, Madrid offers
a wide variety of social programmes for all of its
participants.
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