As a starting point, “hybrid” evokes an interesting reality just by its name. This Spanish young art fair in fact enriched itself thanks to new galleries and artists, that now are more than 150. The three energetic curators – Ana, Eugenia and Aida – picked contemporary art and creative realities from Europe to Taiwan, or Canada. Good emergent creativity incubators are going to be on the path of this 4th edition that takes place, as in the past editions, twice a year and in different venues, as a sort of contemporary festival.
A brief conversation with Ana Sanfrutos, Eugenia Chenlo and Aida Chaves, co-directors of Hybrid Madrid, the vivid art fair at its fourth edition.
Dear Ana, Eugenia and Aida, you are on the board of Boreal Projects, a reality that deals with culture and art with a focus on experimental projects. How was the step of co-directing the fair? When were you called?
The step was actually quite natural because we started working together as Boreal Projects with the idea of creating Hybrid. We not only actively direct the project but also designed it and found it. Hybrid is a project that takes place twice a year, in September as a multi-venue festival that celebrates the start of art season of the independent art spaces of Madrid and during Madrid Art Week as a fair that focuses on the emerging artist and alternative art projects.
Do you think the art system needs more art fairs to spread the work of some artists and galleries?
Contemporary art fairs have always been an important field for dealing and for showing cutting edge art creations to bigger audiences. Hybrid Art Fair offers the opportunity to independent art spaces and young galleries to participate in a large event during the most important moment for contemporary art in Spain. The projects profit from opportunities for visibility, networking and acquiring new collectors. In Madrid there are right now 8 satellites art fair surrounding ARCO but every country has different needs depending on the size of their art markets and the overall economy of each country.
The focus of this Hybrid Madrid edition will be on emerging and fresh galleries. You made a very good gallery selection from all over Europe – from Yellow in Italy, to Almacén in Tel Aviv, or, again, Pow Wow in Greece. Can we say that you represent a young, but international art fair?
We are indeed a young and international art fair and we work on every edition to bring exciting emerging projects from all over the world and all over Spain. We like to think about the event also as a gathering for independent projects where the participants can meet and exchange ideas, that’s why we also put special emphasis in the program of talks and panels, Talking Independent, where participating artists and curator have the opportunity to start a conversation with local invites and the public. We aim to be also a showcase for emerging artists, a place to discover new talents.
What suggestions would you give to collectors, galleries and art lovers who just started to visit art fairs?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions, enjoy the fair and if you find an art piece you fall in love with, follow your instincts.
Do you think that the quality of Hybrid can be stressed by its cultural experimental projects and, to quote the name of the fair, “hybrid” ideas and cultural exchanges?
The quality of the projects and the artists behind them are exceptional. Also, Hybrid represents a different experience for visitors due to its unique format of curated projects in hotel rooms and an extensive parallel program of activities including performance, live music and talks. Hybrid is indeed a hybrid of disciplines, formats… even the participating projects present hybrid innovative forms for managing their initiatives.