New artistic covers in Madrid: how to find them and win prizes

The new covers turn an everyday element into part of the urban cultural landscape. Distributed across different parts of the city, they invite people to look at the ground with fresh eyes and discover details that normally go unnoticed.

The proposal connects with an international trend known as ‘drainspotting’, popular in Japan, which is now arriving in a European city for the first time. Madrid is thus joining a different way of exploring urban space through small artistic elements. From 2 March, Canal de Isabel II is promoting this initiative through its social networks — Instagram and Facebook — to showcase these covers. Participants can send the images they find privately or in comments and, in order of arrival, will receive a gift while stocks last.

The initiative is part of a broader programme with free activities. These include visits to water infrastructure such as the El Atazar dam and exhibitions such as that of photographer Sebastião Salgado at Fundación Canal.

Events such as themed routes and a water-related cycling race will also be organised, extending the experience beyond the city centre and bringing it closer to other municipalities in the region.

For those walking around Madrid these days, the experience changes slightly: the route becomes a search, almost a game. This initiative shows how even the city’s most invisible elements can form part of its identity and open up new ways of connecting with the urban environment.