ARCOmadrid 2026: 45 years giving voice to contemporary art

ARCOmadrid will hold its 45th edition from 4 to 8 March 2026 reaffirming its position as one of the leading international events in contemporary art. Organised by IFEMA MADRID, the fair will present a carefully curated selection of projects, consolidating its role as a benchmark platform for contemporary creation and as a meeting point between diverse artistic scenes and contexts, together with the voices that drive them.

A total of 211 galleries from 30 countries will convert Madrid into the international capital of contemporary art. On this occasion, 175 galleries make up the General Programme, in addition to the curated sections: ARCO2045: The future, for now, with 17 galleries; Opening. New galleries, with 19, and Profiles | Latin American Art, with 12 galleries.

Spanish representation this year stands at 34% of the offer, while the international segment reaches 66%. Of the latter, more than 31% corresponds to Latin American participation, with galleries from 11 countries and a special participation from Brazil and Argentina. As such, ARCOmadrid continues to project its unique position as a Latin American focal point in Europe.

The General Programme will highlight the strength and diversity of the Spanish art scene through the participation of galleries such as 1 Mira Madrid / 2 Mira Archiv, Alarcón Criado, Elba Benítez, Elvira González, Cibrián, Leandro Navarro, Nordés, Prats Nogueras Blanchard, ProjecteSD, T20 or Travesía Cuatro, among the projects from different parts of the country. Alongside these, Río & Meñaka and Memoria, which are making their debut at the fair in this edition, as well as Blue Velvet and Fermay, which join the programme after their participation in the section Opening. New galleries.

Among the international galleries, notable additions include Carlos/Ishikawa, Green Art, Lia Rumma, Loevenbruck and Zander, alongside others returning to the fair such as Casa Triângulo, Barbara Thumm and Luisa Strina. Bernier/Eliades, Casas Riegner, Dépendance, Massimo Minini and Francesca Minini, Plan B, Luciana Brito and Raquel Arnaud are also returning participants. And others that are once again placing their trust in us, such as Fortes D'Aloia & Gabriel and Vistamare, as well as faithful galleries such as Esther Schipper, Jocelyn Wolff, Lelong, Meyer Riegger, neugerriemschneider, Ruth Benzacar, Peter Kilchmann, Thaddaeus Ropac and Thomas Schulte. 

In parallel, ARCOmadrid will have three curated sections. ARCO2045: The future, for now is introduced as a central theme and is articulated across two spaces within the fair, curated by José Luis Blondet and Magali Arriola, who will invite us to reflect on possible futures and tentative languages of art in order to envisage new horizons. This section will bring together galleries such as Commonwealth and Council with Patricia Fernández, David Nolan and Marc Selwyn Fine Arts with Rodolfo Abularach, François Ghebaly with Candice Lin or Pace Gallery with Paulina Olowska. They are joined by Capitain Petzel with Barbara Bloom, Carlier | Gebauer with Nicole Miller, CarrerasMugica with June Crespo, Mor Charpentier with Sylvie Selig and Proyectos Ultravioleta with Akira Ikezoe, galleries that will also have a space in the General Programme.

Opening. New galleries will, once again, be a space at ARCOmadrid for discovering innovative works of art. Curated by Rafa Barber and Anissa Touati, with Cristina Anglada as institutional liaison, the selection will showcase the commitment of Spanish and international galleries that have been operating for less than eight years. It will feature galleries such as Callirrhoë, El Chico, Og Gallery, Reservoir, Selebe Yoon and Villa Magdalena, returning to the programme, alongside new additions including 4710 Gallery, ADA, gratin, Enhorabuena Espacio, Linse, Method, Spiritvessel and Window Project. 

The section Profiles | Latin American Art will continue to highlight ARCOmadrid's historic relationship with the Latin American art scene. Curated by José Esparza Chong Cuy, it focuses on presenting a single artist in each proposal and will bring together 11 creators, including Gabriel Branco with Galatea, Harold Mendez with Patron and Commonwealth and Council, Paloma Contreras with Pequod Co., and Julia Gallo with Yehudi-Hollander Pappi. Alongside the galleries participating in ARCO for the first time, other long-standing participants also return, such as A Gentil Carioca with Kelton Campos, Embajada with Las Nietas de Nonó, Isla Flotante with Roberto Jacoby, and N.A.S.S.A.L. with Miguel Cintra Robles. 

Added to this are the 38 Artist Projects, presented by 41 galleries, including Adolfo Bimer -ATM-, Lucía C. Pino -Prats Nogueras Blanchard-, María Magdalena Campos-Pons -Barbara Thumm-, Roberto Diago -El Apartamento-, Antoni Miralda -Senda-, Aurèlia Muñoz -José de la Mano-, Amparo de la Sota -Galería Alegría-, Diana Policarpo -Lehmann-, Ugo Rondinoni -Esther Schipper-, Raúl Silva -F2 Galería + Crisis-.

ArtsLibris will again be present at ARCOmadrid with more than 90 publishers, bookshops and cultural agents from 20 countries, and a number of book presentations will take place at the Arts Libris Speaker’s Corner. 

In addition to the exhibitions presented by various institutions across Madrid, ARCO will once again draw the attention of galleries, artists, collectors, curators and professionals from the sector, maintaining its status as an essential fixture on the international contemporary art calendar. 

FULL LIST OF GALLERIES

Collectors and acquisitions

ARCOmadrid offers a series of initiatives to promote collecting. One of these is First Collectors by Fundación Banco Santander, the renowned free art consultancy service for first-time buyers during the Feria, which has helped more than 1,000 people in the past 15 years since it was set up. This is in addition to the already consolidated International Buyers’ Programme and the Special Guests’ Programme, which attract some 400 collectors and 200 professionals from around 40 countries to Madrid. 

ARCOmadrid has confirmed the presence of patron collectors and museum members such as Amis du Centre Pompidou, Paris; ADIAF, Paris; Jeu de Paume, Paris; TATE Americas Foundation, New York; Meadows Museum, Dallas; MOLAA, Long Beach; Musée d'Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva; Kunsthalle Praha, Prague; Leopold Museum, Vienna; Young Collectors Circle, Lisbon; Royal Academy, London; Spirit Now London, London; Various Others, Munich; KW and BB, Berlin; Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid; Fundación Joan Miró, Barcelona; Fundación MACBA, Barcelona; Museo Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona.

Once again, a range of Spanish and international private companies are joining various initiatives in the form of acquisitions and recognition of artistic creation through the presentation of awards, including the Lexus Award for the Best Stand at ARCOmadrid 2026, Cervezas Alhambra Award For Emerging Art, NEWARTaward@ARCO, ENATE-ARCOmadrid 2026 Award, Young Talent Award at Opening, Engel & Völkers Award Profiles | Latin American Art Award, Pilar Forcada ART Situacions Award, Catapulta Acquisition Award, ARCO Antoni Vila Casas Award, Catalina D’Anglade Award, the Emerige/ CPGA Award, Colección Rucandio,  the Opening Award, and the Juana de Aizpuru Award, which this year has been awarded to Galería Elvira González. 

Likewise, ARCOmadrid 2026 has confirmed purchases from various institutions such as the Museo Reina Sofía, the Community of Madrid, Madrid City Council, the Andalusian Regional Government, IVAM, Es Baluard, Fundación María José Jove Art Centre, Fundació Sorigué and Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson, among others.

Fundación ARCO will once again raise funds to acquire works for its collection at the CA2M Museo Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo in the Community of Madrid through its long-standing Fundación ARCO dinner, held in collaboration with Cartier. Artworks from donations , from Frédéric Malle, Club Matador and the International Council of Fundación ARCO will also be included. The dinner will also be the venue for the presentation of Fundación ARCO’s “A” Awards for Collecting, now in their 30th year, in which the following collections will be recognised: Juan Antonio Pérez Simón, Helga de Alvear “A” Award; Laurent Dumas, International Collecting “A” Award; Gabriel Calparsoro, National Collecting “A” Award; and MACBA Studio, the Young Collecting “A” Award.

Forum and Meetings 

Forum on Collecting: a meeting point for the international art community to gather and share ideas on art collecting in sessions that are open to the public. It will feature the participation ofGloria Moure, Gabriel Calparsoro, Iciar Mangas, Fernando Arriola, Yolanda Zugaza, Lourdes I. Ramos, Ella Fontanals-Cisneros, Tanya Capriles, Alejandra Castro, Alberto Rebaza, Eduardo Salazar, Ana Patrícia Severino, Martin Bethenod, Rosario Peiró, Sandra Vieira Jürgens.

The ARCO2045: The future, for now Forum will focus on this edition’s central theme in a series of sessions led by Magali Arriola, José Luis Blondet, with the participation of Aram Moshayedi, June Crespo, Alessandro Balteo, Heike Kabish, Sylvie Selig, Alejandro Cesarco, Barbara Bloom, Patricia Fernández, Paulina Olovska and Liv Schulman.

On the other hand, with the support of AECID, the Central America Forum will be a session featuring contributions from Juan Canela, Julia Morandeira, Karon Corrales, Elena Ketelsen González, and Adrienne Samos.

In addition, the Museums Forum will be held, directed by Amanda de la Garza and Julia Morandeira, with the participation of Anselm Franke, Sol Henaro, Renan Laru-An, Azu Nwagbogu and Eriola Pira.

For its part, the MAV Forum, organised by MAV Mujeres en las Artes Visuales, will feature Nieves Correa, Marta Pérez Ibáñez, Carmen Turégano, María Gracia de Pedro, Lola Díaz González-Blanco, Dolores Fernández Férnandez, Elena García-Oliveros and Antía Vilela Díaz.

Backed by Acción Cultural Española (AC/E), this programme of meetings between Spanish museums and international institutions promotes and fosters long-term relations between them. The meetings will be led by Hiuwai Chu (MACBA), Semíramis González (LABoral), Blanca de la Torre (IVAM), Amanda de la Garza, Julia Morandeira (Museo Reina Sofía).

In addition, the special publication The Word for World is Water World-building & Creative Resistance Through Liquid Alliances, will be presented. Edited by Margarida Mendes and Katya García-Antón, this marks the closing of the curatorial cycle of ARCOmadrid 2023, 2024 and 2025 dedicated to bodies of water as spaces of memory, conflict and possibility. This book brings together artists, authors and scholars who reflect on water as a material, political and relational force shaping the futures of the planet.

As is now customary, the ARCO Forum will also host the ArtsLibris Speakers' Corner with presentations of publications, artists' books and other publishing initiatives.

Design, architecture and spaces 

The spatial design of ARCOmadrid 2026, developed by Pedro Pitarch, proposes an architecture based on the materials and systems of the trade fair context itself, conceived as an ephemeral metropolis.

For its part, Estudio Angela Juarranz will design the gallery space for the ARCO2045: The future, for now section, conceived as a device linking past and future, a structure that does not illustrate time but unfolds it.

On this occasion, the Guest Lounge will be a project created by the studio Manuel Bouzas + salazarsequeromedina, with the collaboration of the Leading Brands of Spain Forum (FMRE), which will be supported by Actiu, Cosentino, Crevin, Fama, Gandia Blasco, Joquer and Ondarreta. And with the backing of FINSA and VETA. It includes spaces by Ruinart Lounge, Bodegas ENATE and Engels&Völkers. 

As part of the private spaces, ARCO will host Hall 45, a project by Devesa & Agenjo with lighting by SIMON, interventions by CR Class and Neolith, and with the collaboration of Casa Decor. The Sala Fundación ARCO will be designed and decorated by S.O. Arquitectura, with lighting project by Polight. The Government of Castilla-La Mancha, will be responsible for the A Very Welcoming Lounge (AVWL), curated by Joaquín Ruiz Espinosa and designed by Fernando Sánchez, with lighting by BPM Iluminación. L.A. Studio is back again to decorate the Presentation Room.

Once again this year, visitors to ARCOmadrid will have the opportunity to enjoy a taste of Mallorca in the Food Court, located in the link between Halls 5 and 7, designed by Pedro Pitarch and furnished by Isimar, as well as at ARCOlunch by Iberia from Friday 6 March at 13:00.

Our ongoing drive for creativity will continue to be reinforced and expanded through publications in 2026. Thus, Paco Lacasta has been responsible for the design of the ARCO catalogue, and Katya García-Antón and Margarida Mendes for the special publication The Word for World is Water.. World-building & Creative Resistance Through Liquid Alliances.

Support from the private sector and institutions 

Sponsors for ARCOmadrid include leading corporations and institutions in the private sector that sponsor specific areas or initiatives at the Feria. This year’s event enjoys the institutional collaboration of Acción Cultural Española (AC/E) and AECID, as well as Lexus, Ruinart, Cervezas Alhambra, Iberia, El Corte Inglés, Frédéric Malle, Radisson RED, Fundación Banco Santander, Bodegas ENATE, Leica, Engels&Völkers.

Caption (from left to right): Gonzalo Cabrera, Director of Culture and Education at IFEMA MADRID; Manuel Segade, Director of the Reina Sofía National Art Museum; Daniel Martínez, Executive Vice President of IFEMA MADRID; and Maribel López, Director of ARCOmadrid.