The new life of the old Conde Duque: a center of contemporary culture as a meeting place

The former headquarters of the

, which for the last decade has been the

of other cultural spaces of the Madrid City Council such as Matadero and Centro Centro, wants to be the new kilometer 0 of the contemporary culture of the capital and thus open a new chapter in the long history of walls built more than

and which also house the Villa Archive and the Municipal Newspaper Library.

"We wanted the project to have its own identity. This helps to clearly communicate to the user who we are and what they can find," explains Natalia Álvarez Simó, its director.

"From there the new denomination of

".

With the entire team working from home, the set-up was marked by uncertainty, but also by enthusiasm.

"We wanted the project to have its own identity. This helps to clearly communicate to the user who we are and what they can find," explains

, its director.

"Hence the name

."

With the entire team working from home, the set-up was marked by uncertainty, but also by enthusiasm.

Under his baton, the agenda will coexist the performing arts, the word, music, cinema and art with mediation and thought, but always linked through thematic lines that each season will give coherence and meaning to the entire bet .

This variety in its offer is what encourages Álvarez Simó to draw certain

.

"This is an emergency program, in the sense of taking care of the sector and the spectator," he continues.

"We have to shake hands with both and maintain the public vocation as a meeting place and to be responsible for creating the hinges between artists and citizens. Culture has become food during confinement. Suddenly, when there was nothing left, there was the need to have her as sustenance ".

Something similar thinks the delegate of Culture of Madrid, Andrea Levy.

In his opinion, few spaces combine better than Conde Duque the heritage history of the capital with the transgressive message they want to launch.

says.

"We want to offer transversal art in a neighborhood as suggestive as Malasaña and in a space as unique as the Conde Duque. Madrid has all the elements to be the cradle of the most eclectic contemporary culture. It has everything for us to be transgressors, but without falling into snobbery. "

The audacity of the project contrasts with the unusual of the moment.

In a moment in which the cultural fabric continues to struggle to rebuild itself, many are the eyes that rest on the uncertain future of theaters, cinemas or concert halls.

"We have to do a lot of pedagogy to show that culture is safe. We must not stigmatize it.

It is a healing part of this recovery. Little by little, we must lose fear," adds Levy.

"Spain is one of the countries with the greatest cultural heritage, but we get little chest out of it. There is a tendency to think that culture is just a red carpet, and that is not true.

. That is why I vindicate it as a matter of state, because it gives us that common identity, interpreting it each in their own way ".

It is at this point that her speech converges again with that of the director of the Center for Contemporary Culture Condeduque who, as an aperitif, has already confirmed

in the musical plane or the company La Veronal, within of the performing arts.

"The first thing we did was draw some general lines, where many of the issues that appear have been generated during confinement. We want to be able to work on these issues throughout the entire program, regardless of the discipline, building a multifaceted program. The themes mark the lines, and each discipline brings a different discipline. "

In addition, together with institutional strengthening, public development and accessibility are the other two great intentions that beat under this project.

Hence the importance

here

.

Along with several co-productions, within the initiatives that seek to provide support to artists, the residencies stand out especially, through which the center invites them to be part of the team, thus favoring that their projects "be the energy that activates the new dynamics "and, at the same time," encouraging people to inhabit it from a multitude of poetic and artistic languages ​​".

On this occasion, the "overwhelming" response has been rounded up in almost 300 applications submitted for six places.

Another of the sections to review is the

, aimed at those who are developing in the field of artistic creation in any of its disciplines, and which will have guests such as

, Juan Domínguez and María Salgado.

"It was necessary for us to create a center where we could reflect on everything we are experiencing," concludes Álvarez Simó. "We already have the threads. Now we have to sew them and weave them together."

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