Intersticio, Madrid is filled with art and opens a gallery

Cristina Herraiz, Ana Coronel de Palma and Sol Abaurrea are the three architects of this wonderful project that has just landed in the Lista neighborhood in Madrid. It was born with the purpose of helping the internationalization of the Spanish scene, connecting the younger local scene with the international one and vice versa. Come and see.

At the beginning of last 2020 – and just before the pandemic burst into our lives, causing a 180° turn in the world as we had pre-established it – Cristina Herraiz (Madrid, 1992) opened Intersticio in London, a place of experimentation and development of curatorial initiatives.

This young woman from Madrid, who graduated in Art History from the UCM, moved to the capital of the United Kingdom to complete a master’s degree in curating at the University of Goldsmiths and it was there that she opened this space with the intention of sheltering the projects she was developing. .

Landing in Madrid was the next step of an illusion that had been on his mind for a long time with the interest of connecting Spain with the international contemporary art scene. No sooner said than done. A year later – and with the London gallery temporarily closed due to the restrictions in force due to the coronavirus crisis throughout the country and pending her next exhibition with the Swedish artist Katarina Sylvan – she opens a gallery in Madrid.

This time she does not do it alone, but comes hand in hand with her two current partners and friends for years – Ana Coronel de Palma (Madrid, 1990) and Sol Abaurrea (Barcelona, ​​1988) with a career behind them full of art galleries and auction houses in different European countries.

Now both Intersticio from London and Madrid are made up of this shortlist that arrives ready to revolutionize the artistic panorama of the Madrid scene. They do it in the Lista neighborhood in an old glove factory that changed owners in the 80s and became an ‘everything at a hundred’ store.

In the words of the three partners: “Intersticio is a young art gallery with double headquarters (in London and Madrid), which seeks to help the internationalization of the Spanish scene, connecting the younger local scene with the international one and vice versa. Search contribute to the visibility, in both scenes, of emerging and established artists, with a critical and poetic vision of contemporaneity,” they tell Harper’s Bazaar Spain.

We talked to them about this wonderful project that recently opened its doors at number 31 Alcántara Street, just two minutes from the Lista metro stop. Here the art created by young talents makes up one of those proposals that are a visual delight for the visitor. Come and see.

Why the name Intersticio?

Intersticio is the gap or space that separates two bodies or two moments in time. When the project arose, the image of opening a space in a sea of ​​voices as saturated as the London scene seemed poetic to us, occupying an interval as a place of resistance and experimentation.

The name is also intended to indicate a special interest in practices that originate from the Global South, with special interest in southern Europe. We feel that these discourses continue to be underrepresented in London, a city that, even with Brexit on the horizon, continues to be a privileged place for artistic experimentation and critical thinking.

Another approximation to the name is ‘interstitial fluid’, which circulates between cells and organs, under the skin, protecting them from collapsing together.  We thought it was a good metaphor for how we would like to run the project: learn and work together, give space to breathe and grow independently, curate from care.

Why after London, have you decided to open in Madrid?

We suppose that it has a romantic point, as art also has. It is returning to the roots, to our city, and contributing something that is important to us; create a space where the local scene can experiment and establish dialogues with international artists.

We love Madrid, it is our home and it is full of artists with a lot of talent and desire to experiment and work. Also full of curiosity, with potential collectors and people, in general, eager to consume contemporary art and culture. We want to be that meeting point and Madrid is eager for new spaces and projects.

What is your objective when opening this space in Madrid?

Our goal is to contribute and continue the history of gallery art in Madrid, opening the scene, energizing it and supporting local and international artists by creating a place where back-and-forth conversations occur. Also, we want to bring these artists closer to young collectors and also to experienced ones, eager to learn about the art of our time.

A gallery is a very cool place, where the works generally come directly from the artists’ studios, a privileged place to come into first-hand contact with the art of our time.

What will the visitor find when entering the gallery?

In view of the renovation of the gallery, we have touched on the basics to give it a facelift: painting the walls, opening the staircase so that more light can enter the lower floor, changing the lights…

We have also created a small warehouse, a kitchen and an office. The visitor who arrives at the premises will find the skeleton of a space with an industrial feel in the center of Madrid, converted into an art gallery. High ceilings and microcement floor that we have colored on the stairs with a yellow that reminded us of the galleries in Mexico that we like so much. We have also changed the railing for a brick one, which takes us to summer and the light of the Mediterranean.

Finally, we have painted the inside of the windows green, previously in exposed iron. We wanted to give a more personal, perhaps more domestic, air to the aseptic white cube.

We must thank the Sierra de la Higuera studio and Antón Arquitectos for their good advice in this renovation and for their generosity towards us and the project.