Madrid becomes hub for immersive digital art with new permanent center MAD

Madrid is emerging as a leading city for immersive digital art experiences, with the opening of MAD (Madrid Artes Digitales), Spain's first permanent center dedicated to using cutting-edge digital technology for cultural purposes. Located in the Matadero cultural complex (a former slaughterhouse), MAD is a public-private initiative backed by the Madrid City Council's culture department. Its inaugural project is a 90-minute immersive journey into Gustav Klimt's Vienna Secession, projected across 2,000 square meters of floor and wall space in Matadero's Nave 16, one of Europe's largest venues for such productions. The city has already seen successful immersive shows: #InGoya at Centro Cultural Fernán Gómez in autumn 2021, featuring Goya's works animated to music by De Falla, Granados, Mozart, and Boccherini; and "Vida y Obra de Frida Kahlo" at Fundación El Instante, produced by Acciona Ingeniería Cultural, which will tour Spain and Europe from April 2022. The Velázquez Tech Museum, opened in spring 2021, offers a 360-degree sensory experience dedicated solely to Las Meninas, with eight rooms using videomapping, holograms, and 4D installations. Meanwhile, the Farnesina Art Experience presented the videomapping "Do humans need humans" on the facade of Conde Duque in December 2021, a one-weekend event featuring Italian digital artists exploring the connection between natural and artificial matter.