🐉 The Tapa Weekend: February 9
The Chinese New Year, Carnival celebrations and the Madrid Design Festival.
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | February 9, 2024 | Madrid | Issue #40
🎉 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
Hang in there, everybody!
January seemed to have no end but we’re only 42 days away from spring. One final push and we’ll be there. Aperols in the sun, cañas with friends in the evening and live music in the park.
In the meantime, here are some options for you that will help you pass the time this weekend. Remember to send us your recommendations so we can consider including them here.
Happy weekend!
1. Celebrate the Chinese New Year (There be dragons this time!)
Happy (Chinese) New Year!
Dive into the vibrant festivities as Madrid welcomes the Chinese New Year this weekend with open arms and streets bursting with color. From the mesmerizing beats of traditional dragon and lion dances to the pretty lantern displays lighting up the night, Madrid turns into a slice of China, offering a spectacular cultural immersion right here in the city.
We're kicking off the celebrations of the Year of the Dragon in style so be prepared for loads of activities designed to “dazzle and delight”.
Indulge in authentic Chinese cuisine at food stalls in Usera (each bite definitely worth the trip), engage with the community at workshops where you can learn calligraphy, paper cutting, and even try your hand at some Chinese chess.
Last but not least: the grand parade, with incredible costumes, music, and dance that embodies the spirit of new beginnings.
This celebration is an opportunity to explore and be a part of the rich heritage of Chinese culture. Don’t miss it!
Chinese New Year Celebrations. Multiple locations around Madrid (but mostly in Usera neighborhood). Begins on Feb. 10. Check the official website for the activities calendar.
2. Time to Bury the Sardine! The Madrid Carnival is Here
Hard to believe, but Carnival is already here. So grab your best mask and head out to the streets this weekend to have some fun.
The celebration begins with fashion designer Lorenzo Caprile giving the opening speech (or pregón) that will kick off the festivities, which will have Matadero Madrid as its epicenter. The City Council has also chosen the team from La Juan Gallery, an art gallery dedicated to live arts, to add an artistic atmosphere into the activities, with a focus that balances entertainment and learning.
Artistic creativity will give way to popular customs and dances over the weekend, with events for families and young audiences, including puppet shows, workshops, music, a treasure hunt, a parade and satirical songs.
And there’s the burial of the sardine (which is probably not what you’re imagining)
Madrid Carnival. Feb. 10 to 14. Multiple locations around Madrid. Check website for locations and schedule.
3. Madrid Design Festival 2024
If for some reason the Chinese New Year or Carnival celebrations are not for you (weird, but OK), we’ve got a high-brow option for you.
The Madrid Design Festival is back for its seventh edition this year, turning the city into the capital of design and an international industry hub. The 2024 edition features Castilla La Mancha craftsmanship as the guest project, along with 53 exhibits and installations, 177 brands and organizations, and the participation of 695 professionals.
The MDF will explore interdisciplinary dialogues between design and fields such as science, fashion, music, art, and craftsmanship, while also addressing societal issues such as depopulation and youth loneliness.
The festival will primarily take place at the Fernán Gómez Centro Cultural de la Villa, with additional venues including the Museo Cerralbo, the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, Museo del Traje, CaixaForum Madrid, Museo ICO, and Palacio de Santa Bárbara.
Madrid Design Festival. Multiple locations around Madrid. Feb. 9 to March 17. Check website for opening hours.
4. Surrealismos: La Era de la Máquina
Now, if you’re feeling artsy this weekend and the MDF is too mainstream, why not head over to the Surrealism: The Age of the Machine exhibit? It brings together pieces by authors such as Duchamp, Man Ray, Picabia, and Stieglitz, who broke with academic tradition and delved into a new era of modernity: the era of the machine.
After WWI, the world underwent a transformation. In devastated Europe, the focus of the avant-garde shifted to the "new world" (namely, New York), where artists found a new reference point in “a more modern, technified, and booming society: the machine, born without a mother’ but feminine and erotic, arising from itself and reproducing without a model to imitate”. Right?
The exhibit includes 125 pieces divided into four sections: The New World and "pure photography"; From artistic nudity to the body as a machine; From abstraction to the machine; and Eros and machine. Worth a visit!
Surrealismos: La Era de la Máquina. Fundación Canal Mateo Inurria, Mateo Inurria, 2, Madrid. Through April 21. Check website for opening hours. Free admission.
5. The Mercado de Motores (Fun Times at the Train Station!)
The Mercado de Motores is back. The second weekend of every month, the Mercado de Motores market takes over the Madrid Railway Museum (which used to be a train station) to bring you live music (see video above), food trucks, vintage clothing, used vinyls and more.
Over 200 designers and entrepreneurs showcase their products—kind of like a flea market but a whole lot better.
Mercado de Motores has been gathering hundreds of artisans, designers, creators, book vendors, artists, gourmet food producers, and vintage/second-hand specialists for over 10 years.
This market/fair has become a benchmark for sustainable and local trade, providing visibility to entrepreneurs who, for the most part, do not have physical stores. Let’s show them our support, shall we?
Mercado de Motores. Free admission. Feb. 10 & 11, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Museo del Ferrocarril. Paseo de las Delicias 61, Madrid. Free admission.
👨🏻💻 Viral Stories of the Week
🎶 You know a song is popular when…
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Spain’s Eurovision entry is superpopular (as we noted in yesterday’s newsletter). But how popular is Nebulossa’s europop number “Zorra”? So popular that the Guardia Civil is using it as a soundtrack to a TikTok of it arresting and fining villains. Now that’s popular.
💃🏻 Talking about great Eurovision entries…
Imagine if Isabel Díaz Ayuso entered a song in Benidorm Fest. Now imagine if it was basically “Zorra” but called “Facha” and even better than the original. Actually, don’t bother. Polonia did it for you.
🔥 Hottest 3-word burn ever. But was it intentional?
Sometimes Spain humor comes from the weirdest places. Like Birmingham Live, which published an article about the drought in Catalonia and in just three little words managed to insult Catalan nationalism in a way rarely seen before. Makes one wonder if the headline writer on duty that day was a transplant from Murcia… 🤔
🔔 A Message From Our Sponsor — With a Coupon!
MEAT MADRID is your carnivorous stomach’s home away from home in Spain’s capital. Seriously, look at the name. And we’ve got an offer to prove it.
Hungover? Not yet? Come celebrate making it through Dry January with Wet February at MEAT. Tell your waiter you're with The Tapa or show him this coupon on your phone for two free drinks (beer, wine or soft drinks) with your meal (€15 min. check/diner). Valid through February.
MEAT is located on Calle de Santa Teresa 4, just off Plaza Santa Bárbara, and open every day from 13-16:30 and 19:30 to midnight. Reservations: 91 029 60 41.
Follow Meat Madrid on Instagram.
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We’ll be back next week with more.