Salvador Dalí, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Yayoi Kusama and Louise Bourgeois are some of the international artists whose works will be present at the IX edition of the ONCE Foundation International Biennial of Contemporary Art, which will take place at the CentroCentro space in Madrid from September 25, 2024 to January 12, 2025 under the central theme of mental health.
This event, which has become a staple in the cultural calendar of the Spanish capital, will be held under the title ‘Paths of Resilience: The Transformation of Mental Health through Contemporary Art’.
Mercè Luz Arqué, previously head of the Culture and Leisure Department of the ONCE Foundation and coordinator of the eight previous editions of the biennial, is the curator of the exhibition.
With this exhibition, Fundación ONCE wants to highlight that art can be a powerful tool to explore and express the challenges of mental health in today’s society, which also faces the challenge of unwanted loneliness and its consequences. The aim is to help destigmatize these problems by talking openly about them.
In this ninth edition, the exhibition will feature works by 43 renowned artists. Sculptors and painters such as Louise Bourgeois, with her ‘Spider Home’; the work ‘Bestia’, by Jean-Michel Basquiat; ‘El camino del enigma’; ‘Batalla en las nubes’, by Salvador Dalí, and one of the works from ‘Dots Obssesion’ by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, will be present, among others.
In addition, and in collaboration with entities such as the National Drama Centre and Casa Encendida, the event features a series of parallel activities including dance shows and theatre performances.
To launch all these activities, the ONCE Foundation has the collaboration of entities such as Carlos Carvalho Arte Contemporànea and the Oliva Art Centre of Portugal, Espacio Solo, the Caixa Foundation, the María Cristina Masaveu Petersen Foundation, the María José Jove Foundation, GACMA, the Blanca Gallery Berlin, the Christian Berst Gallery, the Rafael Ortiz Gallery, the Kunstmuseum Bern (Switzerland), the León Museum of Contemporary Art, the Asturias Museum of Fine Arts, the Reina Sofía National Art Centre Museum and the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum. It also has the sponsorship of Campofrío, Deutsche Bank Group, the AON Foundation, the Montemadrid Foundation, La Casa Encendida, Mastercard, Samsung and INAEM – National Drama Centre.