Apertura 2026: Madrid Gallery Weekend Highlights Carabanchel, Letras and Lavapiés

Key facts

• Apertura is Madrid's gallery weekend, now in its 17th year, held in September 2026, six months after ARCO (which takes place in March).
• Carabanchel, a former working-class district southwest of central Madrid, is transforming into the city's most dynamic art hub, with galleries in post-industrial and post-rural buildings.
• Sabrina Amrani runs three spaces in Carabanchel and presents a solo show by Malagasy artist Joël Andrianomearisoa for Apertura 2026.
• Belmonte opens a two-person exhibition of Louise Glévéau Guerreiro (b. 2003) and Joris Papin (b. 1997), young painters who share a Paris studio and investigate painting's transparency.
• Memoria keeps its central Madrid location while opening a Carabanchel branch, showing Chilean artists Juan Castillo and Raúl Zurita, both members of C.A.D.A. (Colectivo de Acciones de Arte) active during Pinochet's dictatorship.
• Villa Magdalena, founded in San Sebastián and opened in Madrid just over a year ago by Cy Schnabel, shows American painter Tommy Malekoff (b. 1992) with works inspired by lost-dog posters.
• In Lavapiés, Mira Bernabeu operates 1 Mira Madrid, showing Alain Urrutia and Chema López in a two-person exhibition on gray scales, and 2 Mira Archiv, which includes a small exhibition space and an archive service.
• Maisterra's exhibition on Miguel Ángel Campano (died 2018 at 70) features a wall quote by the painter about style and attitude.
• Travesía Cuatro gives ample space to La Chola Poblete, an artist from Mendoza honored at the 60th Venice Biennale (2024), and dedicates another room to paintings by Argentine artist Vivian Suter.
• Albarrán Bourdais fills its three levels largely with installations by Simón Vega, combining pre-Columbian-inspired structures with contemporary corporate iconography from Disney to ChatGPT, and presents a small show of drawings by Mexican artist Carlos Amorales.