

The participation of these professionals will complement the exhibition side of ARCOmadrid, in which about 200 international galleries will take part in the General Programme, Focus Netherlands, Solo Projects: Focus Latin America and Opening.
There are two notable new features in this edition. The “Highlighted Artist”, an initiative that reflects the quality of ARCOmadrid as a place for discovering new artists and as an authentic presentation space for gallery programmes.Each gallery has been invited to prepare a special presentation of an artist, all of which will be collected in a new publication serving the functions of guidebook and essential informational tool. The other new feature, the Solo Objects programme, will include twelve large format projects which will be exhibited in three spaces at the fair.
In addition to all of this there are the exhibitions Madrid has prepared for the occasion, such as shows by the German artist Hans Haacke and the Spanish artist Muntadas at the Museo Reina Sofía; paintings from the Rubell Family Collection at the Fundación Banco Santander, the collections of contemporary art from MACBA-Fundación La Caixa at Caixa Forum and many more. The presence of the Netherlands will also be felt in the leading museums, with works by artists such as Aernout Mik, Falke Pisano, Gabriel Lester, Nathaniel Mellors, Navid Nuur and René Däniels, among others.
For the first time there will also be an AfterARCO programme that will take the art fair and its activities into the city. Various spaces in Madrid will hold screenings of works by artists such as Eugenio Ampudia, Guido van der Werve, Jeroen Kooijmans, Lernet & Sander, Pablo Valbuena and Ruth Gómez, interventions in the urban space, for example, by Nico Munuera in Plaza de Cibeles, and concerts, including by the Martin Creed Band and Planetas DJ.
The new edition of the Fair continues to support digital media, and the new free iPhone, iPad and Android apps are already available. The Catalogue and Book of Artists can also be downloaded from the website (www.arco.ifema.es).
Professional pass requests, online ticket sales and a presence in social networks complete the services offered by ARCOmadrid 2012.
