Matadero Madrid, a space within the Area of Culture, Tourism and Sports of the City Council of Madrid, is finalizing the details of the program with which it will open the season in September. After the return from holidays, the annual appointments with L.E.V. Matadero, Festival of Visual Electronics and Extended Realities, from September 18 to 21; and with Animario, International Festival of Contemporary Animation in Madrid, from December 11 to 14, organized by Cineteca Madrid.
In October, Nave 0 of Matadero Madrid will host the second site-specific exhibition of the recovered program ‘Open x Works’, this time with the artist Cristina Mejías. Curated by Soledad Gutiérrez, the creator addresses this project invoking a fragile and mutable ecosystem with water as the protagonist. Meanwhile, Medialab is starting the season by developing its collaborative research laboratory LAB 4 Strange Futures, focused on exploring the deep instability that permeates contemporary society, immersed in constant uncertainty.
Additionally, the Intermediae Distributed call will support three participatory projects by artists, creators, agents, and cultural and/or social collectives that will develop proposals in collaboration and harmony with the districts surrounding Matadero Madrid: Arganzuela and Usera. The Center for Artistic Residencies will welcome new resident artists who will develop their projects within this framework of institutional support, and in November will open its doors again to the public to showcase the work of the creators. As for the children’s audience, they will have spaces and proposals to explore with their families through play, art, and knowledge.
L.E.V Matadero: Festival of Visual Electronics and Extended Realities
Curated by the Datatron platform and organized by Matadero Madrid, the L.E.V. Matadero festival celebrates its seventh edition from September 18 to 21 with the most current proposals in the field of sound experimentation, audiovisual, and digital. In this program, the latest technological tools are put at the service of some of the most creative minds on the national and international scene, designing multiple activities in different spaces of the venue with which to immerse oneself in unheard-of worlds.
The event offers a journey through concerts, installations, exhibitions, and activities focused on extended realities, designed for those seeking immersive experiences at the frontier between artistic production and technological experimentation.
Exhibition of Cristina Mejías in Nave 0
The second exhibition of the ‘Open x Works’ cycle will be carried out by the artist Cristina Mejías (Jerez de la Frontera, 1986) curated by Soledad Gutiérrez, both based in Madrid. In her approach to this invitation for ‘Open x Works’, Mejías focuses on the materiality of knowledge construction. For this, the artist invokes a fragile and mutable ecosystem with water as the protagonist, companion, and guide through an installation that will navigate the building’s architecture.
Cristina Mejías’ work is attentive to oral tradition, listening, and storytelling, using sculpture, installation, and video as the main tools of work. She has recently exhibited individually in international institutions such as the Museo Patio Herreriano (Valladolid), RoyalMount (Montreal), Vinya dels artistes (Lérida), Centro de Arte Párraga (Murcia), Teatro La Capilla, alongside Víctor Colmenero Mir (Mexico City), Museo Provincial de Cádiz, Museo Provincial de Jaén, Blueproject Foundation (Barcelona), and the Museo Arte Contemporáneo del Zulia (Maracaibo, Venezuela). Her work will also be seen soon in an individual exhibition at the C3A (Córdoba).
Medialab will explore ‘strange futures’ in LAB 4
The fourth edition of Medialab’s collaborative research laboratory, LAB 4 Strange Futures, will focus on exploring the deep instability that contemporary society is experiencing, immersed in scenarios of constant uncertainty. The program opens participation to artists, technologists, experimental designers, critical thinkers, students, experts in various fields, and citizens in general who feel challenged by the proposed theme.
In November, Medialab will delve into one of the axes of LAB 4 —the ‘soft’ science fiction and forms of poetic intervention in the technological tensions of the current world— with the collective of Dutch artists and designers Metahaven, which will materialize in an installation of the work (unreleased in Spain) ‘Hometown’, the new commission ‘Collapse of the Weave Function’, and a workshop on geodesign.
Furthermore, with the new course, three new situated research projects for 2025-2026 will be developed, within the framework of Medialab’s work lines and in dialogue with the center’s activities and the communities linked to it. The Artistic Residencies Center will once again open the doors to the FabLAB, available to all its residents, which will also host courses, workshops, and activities related to digital manufacturing. In parallel, the work of the various working groups, such as Electronic Repair Café sessions, Sewing Remake, CoderDojo, and The Things Network, will continue.
Intermediae Distributed, focusing on Arganzuela and Usera
Intermediae starts the season with the start of the three selected projects in the new Intermediae Distributed call, awarded last June and aimed at supporting cultural projects of a participatory nature by artists, creators, agents, and collectives with a focus on the districts closest to Matadero Madrid: Arganzuela and Usera.
These three projects of different characteristics share their community and experimental dimension. The first addresses everyday violence through sports, focusing on young people from Usera and methodologies from martial arts and theater. The second project addresses mourning cultures and focuses on the high concentration of funeral homes and cemeteries in the south of Madrid, as well as the surrounding communities. The third is a community photobook project that seeks to document the present of Usera. The three proposals will have a maximum duration of one year and in their development will be accompanied by Leire San Martín —an expert in mediation, education, and contemporary artistic practices—, and Adriana Reyes —an anthropologist and creator in the field of living arts—, who were part of the evaluation committee of the call.
Cineteca Madrid: cinema, mysticism, and animation
Cineteca Madrid will start its regular program in September with a month dedicated to cinema and mysticism, to explore the multiple ways in which cinema has approached the inexplicable, the invisible, and the transcendent. The cycle ‘Spiritual Journeys. Rescuing the Legacy of Indian Cinema’ will recover treasures restored by the Film Heritage Foundation. With ‘Czech Cinema of the 70s. Beyond the New Wave’, viewers will access a period of radical experimentation and political commitment in which cinema becomes a tool for memory and resistance. ‘Visions of the Apocalypse. A Cinema for the End of the World’ will recover some of the most significant films in the genre.
From December 11 to 14, the eighth edition of Animario, the International Festival of Contemporary Animation in Madrid, will return, bringing together audiences and creators with a national and international program that will include screenings, discussions, meetings, and workshops. Likewise, it will support sector creators with the calls for its two awards: Animario Award for Best Animated Short Film and Animario Award for Animation Production.
Open calls at the Artistic Residencies Center
The Artistic Residencies Center (CRA), focused on articulating resources and support networks for the creative fabric of the city, will continue to provide coverage in Nave 16 to various creators in the fields of the environment, art and education, experimental electronic music, music production, or visual arts. Along these lines, the Center will open its doors to the public in November to showcase the work of the artists. Earlier, in September, the PETRA program of experimental writing in contemporary art will also return, with various workshops led by Marta Fernández Calvo, Vito Gil-Delgado, and Jorge de Cascante.
Activities for families: exploring nature, art, and play
In the fall, the family program returns to Matadero Madrid with a range of proposals for all ages. In collaboration with the El Bancal association, the little ones will be able to reconnect with urban nature and discover how past trades related to the city in the workshop on building houses for elves. Alongside the Bajo Teja platform, children will reflect on the most fun way to celebrate through dance, song, and play. The musical show for the whole family, ‘Fluorescent Skirmish’, will return, with a set design workshop where girls and boys will design the sets with the Buque Bólido duo, and free play areas with wooden pieces and sensory and interactive spaces for babies will continue to be activated.
