Colección SOLO, announced the winner of our second edition of the prestigious SOLO AI Award. This award highlights artworks made with artificial intelligence (AI), and this year’s winner is Gregor Petrikovič’s “Sincerely Victor Pike,” chosen from 372 artists. The ceremony was held yesterday at Goldsmiths University in London. It included the announcement of the winner and an exhibition of finalist works along with expert talks on art and AI.

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SOLO AI AWARD is dedicated to exploring the intersection of contemporary creative practices and artificial intelligence through a global competition focusing on digital and new media art.

In 2024 celebrates its second edition in collaboration with Goldsmiths University and Google Arts&Culture. (more…)

On the pavement, far from the white cube and its delicately ordered, the acrobatically arrangedbodies of filip custic and Virgen María (Maria Forqué), precariously supported by dozens of balloons of various sizes and colours, create a dreamlike structure that decisively occupies public space. dreamcore performance was held in Puerta del Sol (Madrid) on December 2023.

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Ulyss3s SOLO, the experimental artistic project fostered by Colección SOLO presented its new video animation “The War of the Worlds” last 4th of November at Espacio SOLO. The project, conceived as a visual narrative and produced with generative AI tools, uses the binary logic of war as an encounter point to reflect on the cultural tendencies of self-defence, as well as fascination of the unknown.

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The artists combine their different cultural backgrounds to address the main issues of their generation with an artistic proposal created in an artistic residency on the island of Mallorca.  Over-information, identities, visual over-information and hyper-connectivity guide this exhibition that responds to universal questions through painting, installation and art

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Through 30 international artists such as Keiichi Tanaami, Justin Matherly, Mika Rottenberg, David Altmejd, Grip Face, Glenda León and Paco Pomet and over 63 works that include sculpture, painting, sound art, digital animation and artificial intelligence come together in conversation on the paradoxical appeal of excitement and terror, Colección Solo brings Protection No Longer Assured until December 2023. (more…)

SoloJSN, the new platform hosted by Colección, creates SOLO AI ‘23 AWARDS to promote artificial intelligence as a medium for artistic experimentation. The winning artwork will be part of the upcoming exhibition at Espacio SOLO in 2023.

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Colección SOLO joined Untitled Art 2022 (Miami) for the first time with the ‘Colección SOLO Acquisition Award’. The ceremony took place on December 1st and the award was given to the following artists: Alba Fernanda Triana, Pablo Benzo and Aglaé Bassens. 

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Koka Nikoladze, composer and sound artist who lives in Oslo, presented on 21st November his latest project: Koka’s Self-Applauding Machine. An electromagnetic sculpture that can play several sound landscapes self-sufficiently and which, involving the performer and his audience, questions the role of the observer. By “humanising” the robotic, it reflects on vulnerability, the contagious nature of applause and the appeal of catchy tunes.

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The Dutch collective SMACK uses videogame engines to confront us with our group behaviour and show the hegemony of collective truths in the face of our ability to doubt. Tribe War, a live generative work, reflects on culture wars and our inability to modify certainties shared by the group. Tribe, on display at the Espacio SOLO (Madrid), presents awide-ranging art project including digital pieces, generative work and sculpture. Tribe Tower, currently in progress, will be presented in September as part of the inaugural exhibition at the revamped Evoluon in Eindhoven (The Netherlands)

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Certeza, an exhibition that proposes a collective reflection on what we take for granted, through the work of artists such as Amoako Boafo, Alex Hug, filip custic, Chino Moya, SMACK , Botto, Nick Cave and Koka Nikoladze, among others. Certeza, which will be on display at the Espacio SOLO from the 1st of April until December, will include a programme of parallel activities which will feature the participation of the artists whose work is on display, as well as a series of regular podcasts by El Extraordinario.

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Matadero Madrid, Centre for Contemporary Creation, a public arts space of Madrid City CouncilArea for Culture, Tourism and Sports, presents the exhibition The Garden of Earthly Delights, through the artworks of Colección SOLO, an invitation to revisit Bosch’s work through the prism of our present-day. Some fifteen international artists take part in the show, curated by Colección SOLO, which will run from 7 October 2021 to 27 February 2022 at Nave 16, MataderoMadrid.

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Dutch artistic trio SMACK released ‘Tribe Characters’, their first NFT art project. Mario Klingemann, novakzen collective and Filip Custic, the artist behind Rosalía’s visual universe, also presented NFT works supported by Onkaos , an initiative to foster new media artists which forms part of Colección SOLO.

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Colección SOLO has extended Still Human until 20th December 2021.

David Altmejd, Mario Klingemann, Tomoo Gokita, Neo Rauch, Nina Saunders, Nam June Paik, Evru/Zush and Miriam Cahn feature in this dialogue on how we create, observe and interact with new developments.

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Colección SOLO’s artist Juan Díaz-Faes shows in Paris for the first time, brining his infinite patterns to the arts venue, Point Ephemere, in an exhibition that runs  until 18 October. Cement, wood, ceramic, canvas and artificial intelligence serve as media for an artist whose works are infused with energy and optimism.

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An artwork in which optical readers transform celluloid into musical compositions has won the €10,000 first prize in the PowSOLO Awards, created by Colección SOLO together with the Dutch collective, Powland Network. The winning piece, selected from 116 entries to the international open call, is by the artist Enrique de Castillo. His piece, entitled Phonoptics Readers, creates a constant stream of musical compositions by reading patterns designed on cinematographic film.

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Juan Díaz-Faes, Ryan Heshka and Sergio Mora team up with Spanish fine jewellery firm, Joyería Suarez, to produce Silver Squad, a collection of 14 pieces crafted in sterling silver, infused with pop-culture energy and vintage chic. Silver Squad reflects the aim of Colección SOLO and Joyería Suarez to support contemporary creativity by inviting artists to explore new formats.

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On 17th September we will announce the winners of the PowSOLO Awards in a ceremony broadcast live with our partners and friends @powland.tv.

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Limited by SOLO is a new space for exclusive, curated and certified artworks. Developed by Colección SOLO, this project is an invitation to share, enjoy and support international contemporary art.

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Colección SOLO and Powland Network Powcademy, an Amsterdam-based collective dedicated to promoting sound art, launch the Powsolo Awards to recognise the best works in this artistic discipline.

The awards have been launched with the aim of supporting and recognising the best international sound artworks through a first prize and three additional mentions. The first prize, ‘Best Soundart’, will receive 10,000 euros and the opportunity to exhibit the piece at Espacio SOLO, the museum in Puerta de Alcalá (Madrid) which houses Colección SOLO. The jury will also select winners in the categories of ‘Best Emerging Artist’, ‘Most Viral Work’ and ‘Most Innovative Instrument’, with each receiving a 1,000 euros prize.

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Packing is always a nightmare. Whether you’re heading for a full-blown adventure or squeezing your stuff into tiny hand luggage, getting ready for a trip is a challenge in itself. More so for the artist, Mario Klingemann, whose works are showing this summer at three major exhibitions on artificial intelligence. We chat with Mun-Jung Chang, Head of Art Projects at Onkaos, about the logistics of bringing his pioneering artworks to audiences across Europe.

The German artist, Mario Klingemann works with the very latest technologies, autonomous artificial…

Reading time: 5 minutes

“I’m a storyteller and an observer. And I don’t want to pretend to be someone I’m not.” Mu Pan (Taichung City, 1976) is unequivocal. Visual tales are intrinsic to human experience, the places we go to discover new worlds and make sense of the one we live in. “If that’s illustration, then so be it,” says the Brooklyn-based artist, whose first museum retrospective, Mu Pan and Other Beasts, is showing at Espacio SOLO Madrid.

Visual narrative, as Mu Pan’s comments indicate, continues to spark conflicting reactions. With the advent of abstraction in the 20th century, many avant garde artists rejected figuration and storytelling, while hugely influential art critics such as Clement Greenberg laid the academic foundations for viewing visual narrators as second-class artists.

In recent years, however, storytelling has been making a comeback. Figurative artists such as

Espacio SOLO Madrid is currently hosting the most ambitious retrospective to date and first museum presentation by the artist, Mu Pan. The exhibition brings together over 20 works by this master of visual narrative, many of which have never been shown in Europe before, including his most recent work, Mu Pan’s Garden of Earthly Delights. Together with artwork by Mu Pan, the exhibition also showcases pieces by other contemporary artists such as Dustin Yellin, Dan Hernandez and Motohiro Hayakawa, as well as 19th century Japanese woodblock prints created by the ukiyo-e master, Utagawa Kuniyoshi.

“Mu Pan and Other Beasts” occupies three large rooms at Espacio SOLO, completely transformed to submerge the visitor in the artist’s universe, a unique place where every work transports us to unexpected territory, to worlds beyond reality. No wonder this artist is known as a “creator of worlds.” His paintings are…

Reading time: 2 minutes

Think KAWS and Companion immediately comes to mind. The cartoon character with X-ed out eyes, blobby bone ears and Disneyesque gloves has come to be synonymous with the Brooklyn-based phenomenon, Brian Donnelly, aka KAWS. Since its first appearance back in 1999, Companion has taken on countless forms, from limited edition toys to large scale sculptures and even a giant sized balloon for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in 2012. And now, Companion is on display at Espacio SOLO, Madrid.

So where did it all start out? Well, as a “smart ass kid” according to Donnelly, who was “always into drawing” and found an outlet in graffiti. From the early 90s, he was tagging walls, freight wagons and billboards under the pseudonym KAWS. Following in the footsteps of legendary street artists such as Ron English, KAWS…

Juan Herreros, the architect who designed SOLO’s home, chats to us about this extraordinary project, winner of the prestigious Madrid College of Architects Awards 2018.

From the outset, Espacio SOLO was conceived as a space in permanent flux. It houses an art collection but is not a gallery or museum; it provides a meeting point for a host of different projects and initiatives yet feels more like a home than an office.

How would you define this unique space? 

Espacio SOLO is a typological invention that mixes ingredients of contemporary art venues, domestic domains, working places and urban spaces. This lack of specificity builds its diversity and open spirit; it can be re-configured every day from the most generic to the most sophisticated, from the collective to the intimate. The secret is the material elements that recall urban and industrial culture, the spatial layout that…

If you were a urinal, where would you rather live? In a bathroom or on a gallery wall? In 1917, Marcel Duchamp turned a manufactured piss pot into a gallery exhibit named Fountain; the work caused an earthquake in the arts establishment and is now recognised as a landmark of 20th century art. But did Duchamp ask the object’s opinion first? Or did his revolutionary stunt cause that poor urinal an existential crisis?

According to Japanese folklore, objects or tools which have reached a certain age acquire souls; they become “Tsukumogami.” So when an artist ventures into the realm of readymades, found materials and assemblage art, they’re treading on sensitive ground. Put simply, the object’s inner life comes into play.

Nevertheless, plenty of artists have taken up the challenge. Picasso turned his hand to assemblage, for example with Still Life (1914), which was made from scraps…

In 2002, The New York Times baptised him as “the painter who came in from the cold.” Eight years later, Vogue Italia made it even simpler: Neo Rauch is a “contemporary art master.” So whether you’re into Cold War spy glamour or not, this German painter is a chap to keep an eye on.

Neo Rauch at Espacio SOLO

A leading figure in Europe’s art scene over the past twenty years, Rauch has achieved critical acclaim worldwide with an alluring blend of figurative imagery, surrealism and enticing suggested narrative. His dreamlike creations are held by landmark institutions including New York’s MoMA and Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin. Colección SOLO forms part of this prestigious list, with two excellent examples of Rauch’s work: Der Hirt (2000) and Gold (2003), which is exhibited at…

When it comes politics, Marcel Dzama is unequivocal: “I think it’s an important time for artists to make as much noise about it as we can,” he told Juxtapoz magazine earlier this year. Now, his personal brand of subversion arrives to Madrid in the shape of Drawing on a Revolution, a large-scale exhibition of drawings, sculptures and film, a genuine odyssey into the Canadian artist’s universe.

And that universe is a bizarre, enthralling kind of place. Taking inspiration from Marcel Duchamp, Dadaism, surrealist film and popular culture, Dzama populates his works with a dizzying array of characters. Bats, bears and wolves interact with cabaret performers, ballet dancers and machine-gun toting terrorists in hypnotic choreographies of sex, violence and wit. At Colección SOLO, two masked friends appear alongside an imposing cloaked beast in Die Freunde von Seminar und den Minotaurus (2015).

The muted colours of his…

“I don’t really consider myself art-world material,” Danny Fox told GQ magazine in late 2016. This self-taught painter is the archetypal outsider: a stylistic loner, doing his own thing, his naïve creations apparently out of synch with aesthetic trends. Yet in that very same year, the British artist hosted solo shows in New York, LA and Copenhagen, now has collectors lining up for his work and this autumn will feature in Iconoclasts: Art Out of the Mainstream, a major new exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery, London.

Fox was born in the Cornish seaside town of St. Ives, a location whose unique quality of light has attracted painters since the early nineteenth century. From the 1940s to 1960s, the town became a centre for modern and abstract developments in British art, home to figures including Ben Nicholson, Barbara Hepworth and the Russian constructivist, Naum…