One of the running themes that emerged at ARCO this year was about the expansion and transformation of urban spaces. Perhaps its not surprising that this theme was so prominent in the midts of an international economic crisis and declining real estate market. Cities around the world have experienced a boom in construction in recent years, only to see newly fabricated neighborhoods remain uninhabited. In other cases, existing urban areas are under growing pressure from expanding populations. Several photographers have focused on this problem. Belén Uriel: Uriel’s photograph Ideal House shows a colorful billboard with the outline of a cartoon-like […]
Read MoreIn February I had the opportunity to attend ARCO, the international contemporary art fair that occurs every year in Madrid. I’d been curious to attend the fair, which has strong representation from galleries in Spain and Latin America, but I had no idea beforehand of the size and national prominence of the event. ARCO takes place in an enormous convention center (the entire complex has over 200,000 square meters of exhibition space) near the airport. The metro train from central Madrid was packed — at first I thought there was a soccer game on, but everyone was heading to ARCO, […]
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