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Madrid's squares fill with living art this summer
Eleven municipalities in the Madrid region will turn their squares into small stages for contemporary creation this summer. Arte Vivo en la Plaza returns with a programme designed to take art out of galleries and bring it to residents and visitors in the street, without needing to enter a museum or buy a ticket.
The proposal will travel through different towns between July and September, with activities over two July weekends and one week in September. The idea is that anyone passing through the square may come across live painting, a participatory action, a textile piece, a performance or a sound experience.
The programme is promoted by the Community of Madrid and curated by La Juan Gallery. This edition will bring together local artists and five invited creators: Mónica Mura, Sara Gema, Mocholi, Yolanda Andrés and Julio Linares, who will work in direct contact with the public.
The municipalities included are Robledo de Chavela, Patones de Abajo, Belmonte del Tajo, Manzanares el Real, Buitrago del Lozoya, Villar del Olmo, Villaviciosa de Odón, Navalcarnero, Valdemorillo, Chinchón and Carabaña. The route also makes it possible to use culture as an excuse to visit towns that play an important part in Madrid weekend leisure.
The interest of the series lies in how it changes the use of the square. For a few hours, a usual space for walking, terraces or neighbourly gatherings becomes an open workshop, stage and place for conversation. Art stops appearing as something distant and enters the town’s routine.
There is also a practical reading for those looking for summer plans outside the city of Madrid. Arte Vivo en la Plaza offers a quiet alternative to large festivals and shopping centres, with outdoor proposals and a pace closer to that of each municipality.
The programme helps bring visitors around, enlivens local life and gives visibility to artists working in very different languages. In towns where the cultural calendar is usually concentrated on patron-saint festivities, concerts or markets, events of this kind open another way of using public space.
The value of Arte Vivo en la Plaza lies precisely there: in reminding us that culture can also happen in a small square, in broad daylight and in front of neighbours who may not have expected to encounter a work in progress. This summer, several Madrid towns have one more reason to go out, look around and stay for a while.