The activity does not stop at number 27 Victorio de Murcia street. Few spaces in the city, in the Region and possibly in the country have managed to keep the boiler on and working at full capacity despite the scourge of the pandemic. In recent months, the gallery T20 it has inaugurated exhibitions, it has expanded spaces – it has even included a library – it has presented curatorial projects inside and outside its walls and, now, its co-directors present two books.
On the one hand, Carolina Parra she is in charge of prolonging the text Isidoro Valcárcel Medina. The charm of the crisis (Pombo Editora, 2021), which collects the writings that were part of the homonymous exhibition held in T20 in 2008 within the cycle ‘Don’t call it a crisis’; on the other, his partner Nacho ruiz he continues to unravel the history of the most important art fair in our country: ARCO Madrid, of which both are regular gallery owners.
Already in 2004, and as part of his doctoral thesis, the Murcian published a study on the origin and influence of this event on the sale of works in Spain; Now, and with the experience of being an active part of this annual event for almost two decades, he launches –also with Pombo– ARC. A history of art and market (2021), a book in which, according to his own words, “adds to the theoretical knowledge and study of a lifetime, the practice of having inhabited those pavilions” by Ifema.
How did ARCO emerge and how did it become an international reference?
The fair arises from the modernity that the Transition brings with it. Francoism was a reactionary context in which contemporary art was suspect and in which art collecting was extremely conservative and minority. The new democratic Spain needed to harmonize its scenario with that of the European countries. Contemporary art was a flag in Madrid de la Movida, in a country that wanted to be European and forget the years of repression.
In 2004 he already published a work on this fair (ARC. Art and the market in democratic Spain), What does this new research contribute?
That book was part of my doctoral thesis. The difference is that in these last twenty years I have been part of ARCO: Carolina [Parra] and I have been there as T20 and we have thoroughly known the fair. This book adds theoretical knowledge, the study of a lifetime, to the practice of having inhabited those pavilions. Both of these things authorize me to make this book, an ambitious and exciting project.
It is that there are many years there with the gallery …
Well, our first ARCO was in 2001, with a very small stand. Then Sonia Navarro and Miguel Fructuoso were already there, and shortly after FOD would join, artists who this year will be present with us at the fair again.
What did you learn about the fair by entering it with T20? In other words, what has being part of ARCO contributed to you as a researcher?
All. But, above all, a very deep knowledge of the institution, the event and the ways of working.
It is often said that ARCO is the great reference in terms of art fairs in this country. In what way have you set the tone for the others?
Total. The others have subscribed to it when they have been in Madrid and have looked for dates that were compatible with ARCO. He has also set a style, a way of doing things internationally with projects and curatorial lines.
Since your previous job, we’ve been through a couple of economic crises. Beyond the obvious decline in investment and purchase, how do these crises affect the art market in general and a fair this important in particular?
They are earthquakes, more than crises. This one is still starting, and we don’t know how it will end, but in the others it redrew the gallery map, made artists and collectors disappear, made museums sink … In short, 2008 was a cataclysm that we were considering closed. The current one is like a historical paradox.
He often says that ARCO is a miracle. Did it put us on the map, in a way?
Definitely. In the early years there were no structures comparable to the international ones, so it was the great showcase that Lucio Amelio and Achille Bonito Oliva came to, where you could come across Rudi Fuchs and see the trans-avant-garde or the new German expressionists. It was like a kind of oasis.
Is it impossible to understand contemporary art without understanding the art market?
No, they are different things: although the market needs art, art does not always need the market. But the relationship between the two is usually necessary and beneficial.
Does your research vocation come from there?
Not specifically at ARCO, but my thesis was on the history of the Spanish art gallery. Then I have investigated in many fields. Although I am fully identified with these studies.
They say that life is going to be different after the coronavirus. Does it predict structural changes in the world (and in the market) of art?
I think everything is going to change. The market will contract, the weak will disappear and power will be concentrated by fewer galleries, which, in turn, will be stronger. Museums are going to experience difficult times and collectors as well, but above all artists will suffer a regressive context that will aggravate their already difficult situation. There is no bright future in the short term …
He is usually very careful with who he works with. Why Pombo?
It was a necessity for both Carolina and Rodrigo Fonseca, our partner and designer, like mine. We love books, we love art and we love creating new things, intervening to change a frankly improvable art system.
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