SOS from the Zapadores Museum: "We are being flagrantly tried to silence"

• Culture A new off-road museum for the Art Triangle: the Belgian Sawmill arrives

• Urban Planning Madrid Nuevo Norte kicks off, the largest urban regeneration project in Europe

• Madrid Nuevo Norte This will be the business center of the future: with most of the affordable housing, among skyscrapers and with delivery of drones from the rooftops

An excavator clearing an open field;

a shanty town;

the tracks and a Cercanías station;

the horizon of Las Tablas on one side and, on the other, the Fuencarral neighborhood.

It is the landscape that precedes the Zapadores City of Art Museum.

Rough, until you walk through the gates of this former military barracks.

Inside , there are

contemporary art by living creators.

Giant in its dimensions and in its cultural work, without equal in Spain.

And yet, under a serious risk: the construction of Madrid Nuevo Norte could annihilate it.

“This project is being flagrantly silenced to hide the fact that there is a problem here.

Not wanting to show that the museum exists is gratuitous violence”, denounce its directors,

(Ourense, 1982) and

(A Coruña, 1970).

Also architects of the Museum of La Neomudéjar, they rented this space in

, when their activity in the Atocha facilities overflowed and they could no longer exhibit large formats.

His rental contract with the Ministry of Public Works, his landlord until the end of 2023 at the moment, includes a clause: if the developer Crea Madrid Nuevo Norte -formerly the Castellana Norte District- does not want to keep it,

.

Although the land is not yet owned by him, it is projected that the old Operation Chamartín, considered the largest urban development in Europe, will also be deployed on Zapadores.

An open space for unique art. JAVIER BARBANCHO

-attached to the Ministry of Transport, Mobility and Urban Agenda-, the

and the

are involved in the project

.

Despite this, no administration has specified what will happen to the museum.

"We want to have an alternative before that happens, but we've become the hot potato, a solid answer never comes."

They regret the neglect by the institutions, as they denounce: «No one has given the possibility of a meeting or a dialogue.

Several have visited the project, but no one has come with a resolution or a political will to relocate the project or integrate it into the urban development.

In fact, they say that a delegation from the

visited their 30 studios for artists, now occupied by 28 in residence, without informing them.

«They did not talk to us, but they allowed themselves the luxury of going workshop by workshop to ask them what they need, to later launch that wonderful Tabacalera project, the "emblem", as

says , with the same thing.

When the work of the Ministry should not be to make a cultural center, but to create a structure to ensure the protection of the Spanish cultural heritage and its dissemination.

The gigantic barracks converted into an artistic space, from the terrace. JAVIER BARBANCHO

Members of the

(ICOM), can boast that the collection complements the national art galleries, since they accumulate canvases and formats since the end of the 20th century.

And from the point of view of memory, of the rescue of avant-garde historical figures and current political art.

are some of the authors whose pieces are shown by both directors, in an almost labyrinthine visit with GRAN MADRID.

Except for two works by Juan Genovés and another by Alberto Corazón, the entire production is by living authors with a long history.

There is more: in 2022 they organized four exhibitions of Spanish artists in

;

they are the only guests at the LA Art Show (California);

they have an art gallery;

they house the Spanish

since the 70s;

the

Documentation and Research Center , with more than 6,000 voices from the time of the pioneer Domingo Sarrey, and a collection of Central American art, with pieces by

... And they serve as a meeting place between two shores as disparate as Fuencarral and Las Tablas.

«The neighbors do not usually go to the other neighborhood.

In the beginning, we went to Fuencarral, which is the strong public, but in Las Tablas, where there are many restaurants but little alternative entertainment, they have made this space their own.

Since their artistic work reaches from internationalization to the local, they launch their SOS to each organization "that has signed the disappearance" of the institution.

«

.

But knowing the existence of this museum, which is in tune with other great ones, such as MOMAPS1, which is outside the central area of

, or other experiences in

,

or

, how can nobody consider integrating it into this new city ?

so that it is born with a patrimonial and rooted value, or that there is a transfer offer to another State building ».

Up to 300 linear square meters. JAVIER BARBANCHO

First they tried to mediate with their landlord to change location, but the central government does not have real estate in Madrid with minimum conditions.

With the Community, they have not had contact and with the Consistory, they have become the ball on the other roof.

«From

, they answered us that there is no development in the making, because at the ground level it has not been signed.

We were informed that if the City Council considers that the project is relevant enough to be relocated,

will make the request.

There they signed an official letter of support for us and that they sent to Urbanismo and... there it stayed ».

According to municipal sources consulted by this newspaper, "Urbanism has nothing to do with it, because it is Adif who has the contractual relationship and with whom they have to reach an agreement", while, from Culture, they refer to said area.

Not to mention, furthermore, as Prieto and Brives emphasize, that this year is the only one, since 2018, in which

for Contemporary Creation.

«It is quite significant;

they have given it to 39 others. We do not believe it has anything to do with politics, because the Evaluation Commission is independent and is made up, among others, of

, who know well what it means to manage a center of such magnitude."

But out of a maximum of 100 points, his Art House Madrid Cultural Association, from which Zapadores run, did not even exceed the minimum threshold of 30 in cultural interest, although, as the bases show, they seem to meet the requirements.

Being a private center, they are not supported by an institutional budget - the

, also private, does enjoy high protection.

They, in 2022, worked with

"built" between subsidies -"not even 25-30% of the cost"-;

ticket office;

rental of workshops;

private events;

collaborations with embassies;

donation of works... There are no great fortunes or banks behind it.

They raised Sappers as "a civil institution, from the bottom up and not the other way around."

They emphasize: «We do not live on borrowed money, we are directors, ticket salesmen, curators, commissioners, cleaning men...».

A work by Taquen, on the Gran Vía.@taquen

When they landed in this barracks, they say it was a garbage dump, without water, electricity, or doors.

But there are already

.

"For us it would be a great pain to have to leave Madrid," they conclude desperately.

This loss of Sappers would also be irremediable for the authors in residence.

, an urban artist, admits between sprays: «It would hurt me a lot.

Space gives me comfort, ease, freedom.

José Luis Yáñez paints with Sabina or Manolo García playing in the background.RD

For

, the museum was «finding a gold mine in the desert;

if it were lost it would be a bitch ».

He emphasizes between canvases of the Madrid sky: «At my age, what is the alternative?

The senior center, petanque, mus?».

Natalia Auffray recovered her brush and textiles, after more than 7 years without studying.RD

For

, with a textile and pictorial career since she was 14 years old, it would be "a horror" to leave her workshop.

«I could only save my finished works, not the ones that I am building little by little.

I don't even want to think about it."

Antonella Trovarelli began in her abstractions as an autodidact.RD

Antonella Trovarelli

goes further, among her chromatic overflowing canvases: «It would be a great loss on a macro level.

It is the only place like this in Madrid.

I am not from Spain and it seems incredible to me that places like this are invisible.

Manuel Díaz Mere started this great format during the pandemic.DR

And the hyperrealist

, Reina Sofía National Award winner, finishes off with pencil in hand: «It would be a big problem for me to leave.

I had the study at home and I need space.

There are no places in Madrid with these characteristics and at this price”.

They all highlight the value of creating in community.

Zapadores' goodbye would also be that of Madrid and state heritage.

«There seems to be a strategy of dismantling the independent fabric in favor of entertainment or tourism.

That is bread and circuses.

This is a gigantic opportunity."

It is enough that someone hears your SOS

From Montero to Iceta, I despise

The directors

reproach the Ministry of Culture for its abandonment of functions.

«It is not dealing with us as an independent space or with other State collections.

The logical thing is that there is an accompaniment, it happens anywhere in Europe, for example, there is France.

We have been developing this work for 10 years, it cannot be hidden”.

And they cite as a reference Les Frigos-Atelier d'Artistes, which has been operating in Paris since the 1970s.

Nor has the

, which has received them three times, ever shown its support, nor financial, despite having the Spanish LGTBIQ+ archive.

"The last meeting was to tell us, practically, to give it to him if he was at risk."

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

• Madrid New North

• Madrid's community

• Articles Ruth Diaz