🎨 The Tapa Weekend: April 12
Featuring Casa Decor, a massive dance initiative and lots of street art.
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | April 12, 2024 | Madrid | Issue #49
🎉 Welcome to a new issue of The Tapa: Weekend Edition! An English-language newsletter about what to do this weekend in Madrid (plus memes!)
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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
Happy Friday, everyone!
This is it, people! Have you checked the weather recently? It looks like we’re entering a weekend of pure sunshine bliss and the pervasive smell of roses (and rosé, because why the hell not).
So dust off your fedora, your favorite Hawaiian shirt that says “party animal” and head over to Malasaña for some wild tardeo (and by “wild” we mean being back home by 9 pm, of course. I mean, you wouldn’t want to miss the first episode of El Caso Sancho on HBO Max, would you?)
(This isn’t an ad, btw. Although if HBO wants to give us money, we’ll gladly take it).
Anyway, if you’re looking for things to do this weekend, here are some options.
Enjoy.
1. Casa Decor 2024
Ever wanted to (legally) enter one of those big old mansions you see around Madrid? This is your chance! The 2024 edition of Casa Decor is here and, for a few weeks, you’ll be able to see the latest trends in interior design, architecture and art. (So basically feel like a rich person for 20 minutes).
Casa Decor is the largest exhibition event in the decor sector, both in Spain and in Europe because of its magnitude and duration. This year, the event takes place at the Palacio de La Trinidad, one of the few private petit palaces still hidden in the urban area of Madrid (Salamanca, obviously).
In total, there will be 46 spaces distributed around the property, which you can discover by traipsing around it. The estate will work as a blank canvas to show the latest trends in interior design, design and lifestyle, led by the most leading professionals and brands in the sector.
44,000 people attended last year’s Casa Decor, with 153 companies and 55 interior design, architecture, design, and landscaping studios participating, along with 7 artists and 18 artisan workshops (50% of them from abroad).
Get those tickets while they last!
Casa Decor 2024. Palacio de la Trinidad. Calle Francisco Silvela, 82, Madrid. April 11 to May 26. Check website for opening hours. Tickets start at €30.
2. Danzadero 2024: International Dance Day
Have you checked the video above? Trippy, no?
International Dance Day is coming (to be fair, we didn’t even know this was a thing but whatever) and Madrid is preparing to celebrate it the way you expect: with 20 performances by 18 dance companies featuring a total of 55 dancers throughout the month.
Starting tomorrow, Matadero Madrid will host the Danzadero initiative, bringing together a wide range of dance-related activities to celebrate International Dance Day. There will be lots of dance-related stuff! Like workshops, roundtable discussions, and live performances that will transform the Plaza Matadero into a large outdoor stage.
The programming kicks off with the ninth edition of the Cuerpo Romo Festival, which includes contemporary dance and live music, and is directed by choreographer and dancer Elías Aguirre, with Mayda Islas (SNEO Mestizaje) as executive director.
There’s even going to be a masterclass with dance company La Macana and some family activities (children included!) called Baila el Barrio. So if you are into dancing, this may be right down your alley.
Danzadero 2024. Matadero Madrid. Plaza de Legazpi, 8, Madrid. April 13 to 27. Check website to schedules.
3. A Play: La Voluntad de Creer (The Will to Believe)
How’s your Spanish these days? If it’s good enough to understand a play, then you better check this one out.
This fantastic play, inspired by Carl Theodor Dreyer's film "Ordet," explores the relationship between will and faith and has been awarded the Max Award for Best Theater Show and the Godot Awards for Best Play, Best Original Theatrical Authorship, and Best Female Performer.
Helmed by prestigious director Pablo Messiez, La Voluntad de Creer delves into how suggestion can disrupt individuals' attitudes towards will and faith.
The plot revolves around the youngest member of a family of Basque siblings who claims to be Jesus of Nazareth. His sisters believe he has gone mad due to excessive readings of Søren Kierkegaard, so they don't give much importance to his statements. However, just like in Dreyer's film death and resurrection appear to test their beliefs.
La Voluntad de Creer. Naves del Español, Sala Fernando Arrabal, Nave 11, Matadero. Paseo de la Chopera, 14, Madrid. Tuesdays to Sundays, April 13 to April 26. Check website for schedule. Tickets: €20.
4. El Mercadillo del Gato Pop Up Market
Another week, another pop up market! This weekend we give you “El Mercadillo del Gato”, which, as you know, it doesn’t involve a feline but it’s still pretty elegant and cool.
This cute pop-up in the heart of downtown Madrid opens its doors once again with over 60 vendors from different locations offering select products in fashion, craftsmanship, gourmet foods, decoration, accessories, children's fashion, cosmetics, jewelry, and collectibles.
For this weekend only, head over to the mercadillo to find thing such as a natural flower trapped in a pendant, vintage fashion, luxury handbags, or silk scarfs with featuring works by the best painters of the 19th century.
The objects presented to the public at the various stands change with every edition to offer you a different experience each time. Get ready to discover limited-edition items and unique clothing, as the Mercadillo brings together hard-to-find brands, up-and-coming creators and limited collections.
El Mercadillo del Gato. Gran Vía 13, Madrid. April 11 to 14. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.. Free admission.
5. CALLE 2024: Lavapiés’ Festival of Artistic Interventions
Street art!
Except for gentrifiers and boomers who keep telling you to get off their lawn, everyone loves it, and celebrates it. And Lavapiés is filled with it. It’s almost like, no matter where you go, there’s someone spray painting a wall there.
So it’s only expected that this colorful neighborhood celebrates street art with the return of CALLE, the annual festival of artistic interventions in Lavapiés that allows visitors, tourists and area residents to enjoy it on facades, shop windows, and other outdoor spaces of the neighborhood's businesses.
52 artists will be showcasing their work around the neighborhood and they even have a chance of making up to €2000 in prize money.
This year, the festival features Basket of Nean (we’re sure you’ve seen their pixelated art somewhere on the street) as a guest artist, who will execute the Alhambra Work with one of their interventions on the neighborhood's facades.
The event is curated by a new art committee, La Panartería, an art gallery founded by María Heredia and Blanca León, specialized in the field of Performing Arts and Cultural Management and Production.
So head over to Lavapiés, grab a cold beer and go see some art in action.
CALLE 2024. Multiple locations around Lavapiés. Through May 5. Check website for additional information.
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Oh and if you’re a gentrifier and this one is not for you, you can always head over to Plaza Mayor to see how they’ve turned it into a clay tennis court. Not only that, you can actually go here to book it for an hour to play with your friends*!
(*Spoiler alert: You probably won’t be able to book anything since literally everyone in Spain is trying to do the same thing and the court is there for only two more weeks. But hey, we invite you to try. If not, you can always go look at other people playing and having fun, which is totally not sad at all.)
👨🏻💻 Viral Stories of the Week
⚽️ Meanwhile, in Bilbao…
Y’all know that Athletic Club (from Bilbao) won the Copa del Rey this year, right? (That’s football—or soccer—for those in the dark.) It was their first trophy in 40 years so big freaking deal.
Now, imagine that you’d scheduled your wedding for the day after the cup final, in a church on the main square in Bilbao, and when you walked out of the church afterwards there were thousands of Athletic fans there who decided to cheer for you. Yeah, that happened.
Of course, not everyone in Bilbao take the Copa del Rey win as a way to embrace their fellow man. Some were looking to, oh, make some💰. The team decided to bring La Gabarra, the river barge they use to parade their trophies down the river, out of the city maritime museum to once again do the parade (it has been 40 years after all). And guess what? Surprise! (Not.) People put their balconies with river views on the market for a cool €750 for those who wanted to watch the event in style. Is nothing sacred!? (Answer: No, it’s not.)
🤬 I don’t care who you are!
When Valencia’s slightly dodgy formed regional president Eduardo Zaplana (PP) arrived at the courthouse to testify in ‘Caso Erial’ about a bunch of money found overseas (“I’ve never had money outside of Spain,” he said 🙈 🙉), he thought as a former Big Wig he could cruise right to the front of the line for the metal detector. Someone clearly did not agree and it was all caught on camera.
🔔 A Message From Our Sponsor
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Located on Calle de Moratín 7 — a few blocks away from the Prado Museum — and with over 20,000 new and used books, Secret Kingdoms has something for everyone.
Find out more at www.thesecretkingdoms.com
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Compliments to this newsletter. As a person who lives abroad, I want to thank you for the information you provide in every newsletter! I feel closer to Madrid!
Thank you for the kind compliment…that's exactly what we're trynig to do!