Showcasing The Movida Madrileña

Showcasing The Movida Madrileña

For anyone that would consider themselves a fan of French art, a groundbreaking new exhibition about counter-culture during the Spanish transition to democracy previewed this month at a contemporary art museum in Madrid.

Photo: Antonio Mercero, La cabina, 1972. Image courtesy of RTVE

The exhibition, titled "The Poetics of Democracy: Images and Counter-Images from the Spanish Transition,” draws from an event that took place in 1976 at the Venice Biennale - also known as the Red Biennale - when organizers used the event as a platform to showcase art oppressed by Spain's former military dictator Francisco Franco as a way of reshaping the historical narrative of Spain's art scene since the regime took hold in 1936.

In 1968, global youth and art movements radically transformed the world and a counter-culture emerged in Spain as a parallel narrative to the official one.  During this cultural revolution, a network of creatives across Madrid garnered enough momentum to push an organized movement through not only collectives but media including magazines, radio shows, and even graffiti art. This paved the way for the "Movida Madrileña," a cultural movement that started after Franco's death in 1975 that represented the emergence of a new Spanish identity characterized by freedom of expression, transgression of the taboos imposed by the Franco regime, and drug usage.

   The exhibition showcases images across various disciplines that bring Spain's counterculture of the 1970s out of the shadows and runs at the Reina Sofia from Dec. 5-Nov. 25.

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We hope you’ve enjoyed learning about how the Venice Biennale is Showcasing The Movida Madrileña! Want to pay the exhibit a visit in person? Be sure to check out our culturally immersive group classes before you book your tickets! Click below to learn more.