🖼️ What's on in Madrid: March 6
If you hate contemporary art, there's always a €3 palm reading somewhere.
Madrid | Issue #135
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Here Are 5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
It’s Friday again!
Get ready, art connoisseurs and pretentious influencers, this weekend Madrid once again transforms into what can only be described as the global capital of contemporary art and confident interpretations of things nobody actually understands.
For real, everywhere you look, there’s a fair, an installation, or a white wall with art. The entire city fills with collectors, curators, gallery owners, and people wearing smart people glasses.
So if you’ve ever wanted to spend a weekend nodding thoughtfully at abstract stuff, discussing “the tension between form and absence” with your friend who is also pretending to know what you’re talking about, congratulations: this is your moment.
Happy weekend!
1.🎨 Madrid’s art world takes over: ARCO returns for its 45th edition
It’s finally here! Madrid’s contemporary art world is celebrating the 45th edition of ARCOmadrid, which returns this week and brings together galleries, collectors, artists, and curious visitors from all over the planet.
ARCOmadrid is considered one of Europe’s key contemporary art fairs, and it has been shaping the city’s cultural calendar for decades. For a few days, Madrid becomes a global meeting point for the art world.
This year’s edition features around 170 galleries from 31 countries, showcasing everything from established international names to emerging spaces discovering new artists.
The fair is structured around various sections: the main General Program, which includes major Spanish and international galleries, Opening: Nuevas galerías, highlighting younger galleries and experimental proposals, and Perfiles | Arte Latinoamericano, which focuses on individual artists and reflects ARCO’s long-standing connection with Latin America.
But wait, there’s more! The Spanish gallery scene will also be strongly represented, with well-known spaces such as Elvira González, ProjecteSD, Nordés, and Travesía Cuatro participating alongside newer galleries making their debut at the fair.
International heavyweights are also back, including galleries like Esther Schipper, neugerriemschneider, and Thaddaeus Ropac, reinforcing ARCO’s reputation as one of Europe’s most influential contemporary art marketplaces.
Beyond the booths themselves, ARCO also attracts curators, museums, and collectors from across the globe, making it one of the most important networking events in contemporary art.
Finally, this is your chance to look at a blue blot on a white canvas and interpret it as a profound meditation on the ontological fragility of the self in late-capitalist modernity, preferably while murmuring something about liminality, negative space, and the politics of absence (with a 🍸 in your hand, obvi).
🖥️ What: ARCOmadrid Contemporary Art Fair
📍 Where: Avenida del Partenon, 5, IFEMA Madrid (Pavilions 7 & 9)
📅 When: Through March 8
🎟 Tickets start at: €33 (online)
2. We’re just getting started: Welcome to Madrid’s Art Week
Hold on to your butts! If ARCOmadrid feels a little too intimidating (or too full of people discussing the “semiotics of absence” while holding a €14 natural wine), don’t worry, it gets worse better: because it’s also Madrid’s Art Week!
This weekend the city is also packed with alternative fairs and exhibitions happening across galleries, hotels, cultural centers, and even shopping malls (yes, those still exist)!
There are emerging artists and experimental galleries, there’s urban art and collector-focused showcases… so many ways to immerse yourself in the art world!
If you enjoy wandering around and pretending to understand conceptual installations, this is pretty much all you will be doing this weekend. Have fun!
A boutique fair focused on modern art and collectors, bringing together galleries specializing in 20th-century works.
📍 Círculo de Bellas Artes (Ballroom)
📅 Through March 8
One of Madrid’s longest-running art fairs, known for turning commercial spaces into temporary art galleries.
📍 Centro Comercial Arturo Soria Plaza
📅 Until March 15
A major contemporary art fair featuring more than 150 national and international artists presented by dozens of galleries.
📍 Galería de Cristal – Palacio de Cibeles
📅 Through March 8
A more intimate fair focused on direct interaction between artists and the public, designed to encourage dialogue and discovery.
📍 Hotel Ilunion Pío XII
📅 Through March 8
One of Spain’s key international contemporary art fairs, with a strong focus on emerging artists and experimental galleries.
📍 Palacio de Neptuno
📅 Through March 8
A fair dedicated entirely to contemporary urban art and street-art–inspired practices.
📍 Matadero Madrid
📅 Through March 8
One of the most unusual fairs in the city, where hotel rooms are transformed into mini galleries showcasing emerging contemporary artists.
📍 Hotel Petit Palace Santa Bárbara
📅 Through March 8
3.🔮 Mercury is probably in retrograde: Madrid’s Esoteric Fair returns!
Wait, wait! We’re serious! If Madrid Art Week is too pretentious, then don’t worry, we can suggest… whatever the opposite of pretentious is.
Welcome to the Feria Esotérica de Madrid, where people are equally confident about things nobody can prove, except here, there are crystals, tarot cards, cosmic energies, and enough incense to summon half the cast of Rosemary’s Baby.
Now in its 36th edition, the fair will feature more than 70 stalls selling everything your inner Aunt Gladys might need: Tibetan singing bowls, amulets, talismans, books about
summoning Cthulhuunlocking your spiritual path, and probably at least one person explaining which planet is randomly to blame for the fact that everyone on Tinder sucks these days. (Looking at you, TOI-3757 b)There will also be talks and workshops (no, really) on subjects like palm reading (seriously), energetic astrology (we’re not kidding), meditation (ah, that one is a thing), and other alternative therapies (sure, Jan). Visitors can book sessions for tarot readings (fun!), aura photography (sounds terrifying), and astrology consultations, which means that by the end of the afternoon, you’ll either have clarity about your future or depression for your present.
The event kicks off with “La Diablada,” a traditional Bolivian performance full of elaborate masks and choreography representing the battle between good and evil (sounds deliciously heretical, we’ll take it).
You can also join free workshops on Reiki, sound meditation, Tibetan medicine, and therapeutic massage. And on the final day, there’s even a special blessing ceremony designed to help you achieve your 2027 goals (because, let’s face it, 2026 is already a lost cause).
🖥️ What: Feria Esotérica de Madrid (36th Edition)
📍 Where: Sala DEMO 1 & 2, Estación de Chamartín – Calle Agustín de Foxá, Madrid
📅 When: Through March 8
🎟 Tickets start at €3 (splurge!)
4.🚺 Ellas Crean: a festival celebrating women artists
It’s International Women’s Day this Sunday, and Madrid is celebrating it with the return of Ellas Crean, a multidisciplinary festival dedicated to female creators across music, dance, literature, theater, and visual arts.
Now in its 22nd edition, the festival runs from March 5 to 15 and brings together both established artists and emerging voices in venues across the city.
The festival has a slightly tighter format this year (10 days of programming) with a particular focus on the Tetuán district, alongside events hosted in several of Madrid’s major state museums, including the Museo del Traje, Museo de América, Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, and the Museo Arqueológico Nacional.
The idea is simple: showcase the depth and diversity of women’s creative work while using culture as a platform for social change.
If you hate contemporary art and aura photography, here are a few highlights:
Contemporary dance performances will take center stage, including La peor de todas by the Compañía Inés Narváez Arrospide 10&10 on March 7 at the Museo de América, and After the Drop by Lucía Montes and Mado Dallery on March 8 at the Museo del Traje.
Live music arrives on March 7 with Leonor Watling & Leo Sidran performing their new project Leo & Leo at the Centro Cultural Eduardo Úrculo, accompanied by The Groovy French Band and guest musicians from Spain’s jazz scene.
Poetry lovers can attend the presentation and reading of La llama ebria. Antología de mujeres poetas del surrealismo on March 5 at the same cultural center, a collection that revisits surrealism through the voices of women poets often left out of the movement’s official history.
The festival continues through mid-March with more dance, theater, music, and literature events, but this weekend offers a particularly strong lineup and a good excuse to explore parts of Madrid’s cultural scene that don’t always get the spotlight.
🖥️ What: Ellas Crean - Festival of Female Creativity
📍 Where: Multiple venues across Madrid (Museo del Traje, Museo de América, Centro Cultural Eduardo Úrculo, and others)
📅 When: Through March 15
🎟 Tickets start at: Many events free or low-cost depending on the venue
5.🐸 The Mercado de las Ranas street market is back tomorrow
The Mercado de las Ranas is back this Saturday!
This street market is similar to the Portobello Road or Camden Town markets in London. This Saturday, stores participating in this mercado in Plaza Santa Ana, in the Las Letras district, bring their goods outside into the street so visitors can buy their favorite book, t-shirt, or grab a slice of pizza on the go.
If there’s one thing we love about Madrid (and there are actually many), it’s the street market scene, and this one doesn’t disappoint. After a bit of retail therapy, grab a table at the plaza and sip a cool caña or a latte in one of the nearby specialty coffee shops.
You’re welcome.
🖥️ What: Mercado de las Ranas
📍 Where: Las Letras neighborhood, Madrid
📅 When: March 7
🎟 Free admission
📺 What to watch if you’re staying in this weekend…
🖥️ What: Los Domingos (Sundays) | Movie | 2025
📍Where to watch: Movistar+
❓What’s it about: A young woman named Ainara faces personal crossroads (she wants to become a nun) while exploring career possibilities, much to her family's concern.
🤩 Why you should watch: Well… because it just won the Goya Award for Best Film. Also, it’s directed by Alauda Ruiz de Azúa, who brilliantly portrays how Ainara’s decision triggers an emotional earthquake in her family, forcing everyone to confront their beliefs, fears, and the limits of control over someone you love.
💬 English Subtitles: No.
💃🏻 Places to try this weekend…
🍸 Casa Clavel: Malasaña’s comeback bar you should know
What’s it about: Some Madrid places never really disappear; they just reinvent themselves. Casa Clavel is one of them. Once a legendary late-night bar in Malasaña, it has now returned with a new identity: a cocktail bar, a restaurant and fully in tune with the neighborhood’s creative energy.
Why you should go: Because the vibe is relaxed and social, with a menu built around the kind of food that works for everything from a casual bite to a long dinner that slowly turns into drinks.
Bottom line: Come for the tapas and sandwiches, stay for the wine and atmosphere.
Address: Corredera Baja de San Pablo, 18, Malasaña, Madrid
☕️ Hermanas Arce is a beloved neighborhood café in Salesas
What’s it about: Opened in 2018 by sisters Ana and Elena Arce, Hermanas Arce quickly became one of the defining cafés of Madrid’s Salesas neighborhood. Long before “specialty coffee,” “natural wine,” and “real food” became trendy buzzwords, the sisters were already building a place around those ideas.
Why you should go: Because it’s famous for the kind of breakfasts and lunches that make you feel like you’ve discovered a local secret. The sisters have also done something unusual in Madrid’s hospitality scene: they close weekends and shut the café in the afternoon, prioritizing a healthier work-life balance for their team.
Bottom line: Hermanas Arce helped shape Madrid’s modern brunch culture and remains one of the most charming spots in Salesas for a slow breakfast or relaxed lunch.
Address: Calle Marqués de Monasterio, 6, Salesas, Madrid
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