• El Círculo It analyzes the artistic euphoria that flooded the building in the 80s and 90s, starring in Madrid in the atmosphere of freedom and enthusiasm that spread throughout Spain during the early years of democracy.

• Organized in conjunction with Acción Cultural Española, the Picasso room offers a sample of the activities that, since 1983, have madeel Círculo a benchmark of Spanish cultural life with international reach, thanks to the involvement of important figures from all spheres of art and thought.

February 24th 2026. The Círculo de Bellas Artes The exhibition "Eclosion" has been presented, focusing on analyzing the 80s and 90s at the institution. Parallel to the atmosphere throughout the country with the arrival of democracy, the climate of euphoria and enthusiasm that already surrounded the social and political changes that were impatiently unfolding, el Círculo It experienced its own revolution, led by important figures in the world of culture and thought at the national and international level.

Curated by Oliva María Rubio and organized in conjunction with Acción Cultural Española, the exhibition offers a comprehensive look at this period of renewal, highlighting the

capacity del Círculo to reinvent itself and affirm its vocation as an open, pluralistic, and experimental space. Through artworks, photographic and audiovisual records, and other archival materials, the exhibition invites visitors to understand how the institution became, in just a few years, a cultural engine that accompanied the creative awakening of democratic Spain.

The starting point is in 1983, when a new Board of Directors headed by the sculptor Martín Chirino launched an ambitious project with a multidisciplinary, modern and radical vocation, which returned to the Círculo Its leading role in the world of culture. From then on, and throughout the following two decades, the institution became a hotbed of activity encompassing all artistic disciplines. In addition to workshops, exhibitions, and festivals, seminars, meetings, debates, series, and colloquia were organized.

Shortly after its formation, that Board of Directors, chaired by Chirino, organized the so-called "Resurgence Festival," a major event attended by around four thousand people, which highlighted the need for Madrid to have "a center where artists and art lovers have a common meeting place," stated the then-president.el Círculo.

The massive involvement of highly prestigious artists and, alongside them, countless bold, radical and plural proposals… did the rest.

Contemporary Art Workshops

Although teaching remained in el Círculo Even in the darkest times, one of the new Board's biggest initiatives was the Contemporary Art Workshops, envisioned as a space for interaction between teacher and student. The idea was to establish creative spaces where a renowned teacher would lead instruction for four weeks with complete freedom. Thanks to the diversity of the program, the success was immediate. Antonio Saura, Lucio Muñoz, Luis Gordillo, Antonio López, Eduardo Arroyo, Nacho Criado, Nancy Spero, Julian Schnabel, and Soledad Sevilla all participated in these collective teaching workshops. Each season culminated in a student exhibition and a concert by the group. Círculo and the Contemporary Art Seminars, to which the most prestigious theorists and professors of the time were invited (such as Eugenio Trías, Massimo Cacciari, Estrella de Diego, Victoria Combalía or José Jiménez).

The Contemporary Art workshop was soon joined by workshops in Photography (in which Chema Conesa, Lucien Clergue or Javier Vallhonrat participated), Image and Sound (with Pilar Miró, Luis García Berlanga or Manuel Gutiérrez Aragón), Architecture (which featured Sáenz de Oiza, Álvaro Siza and Juan Navarro Baldeweg), Literature (attended by Cristina Peri Rossi, Bernardo Atxaga or Clara Obligado) and Music, Theater and Dance (with Luis de Pablo, Cristóbal Halffter or Alfredo Aracil).

Spaces for debate proliferated during those years, and art and culture also opened new ways of addressing and understanding crucial social issues. The series "The Body: Scenarios for Freedom" (1987), organized by Antonio Bernabeu at the height of the AIDS epidemic, was particularly significant. In it, Jean Baudrillard, Julian Barnes, Alain Finkielkraut, Guillermo Cabrera Infante, Susan Sontag, Gianni Vattimo, and Pedro Laín Entralgo explored the theme of the body from diverse perspectives.

Exhibitions and poetry evenings

The section on Visual Arts perfectly exemplifies the ambition ofel Círculo It became a benchmark for artists, in addition to its sensitivity to the new artistic trends of the time. Disciplines that had received little attention in Spain, such as video and photography, were explored. In 1984, the first National Video Festival was held, featuring installations by Wolf Vostell, Dan Graham, Marie-Jo Lafontaine, and Concha Jerez. And in 1985, the FOCO Contemporary Photography Festival was launched, showcasing artists such as Cristina García Rodero, Tony Catany, Gary Winogrand, and Bill Brandt.

Another proposal was Autograph Poems (1987), an exhibition curated by José María Parreño featuring poets such as José Ángel Valente, Blanca Andreu, Gloria Fuertes, Caballero Bonald, and Jaime Gil de Biedma. Also noteworthy for its avant-garde and transgressive content was the Poetry and Action program (1990), coordinated by Juan Hidalgo and attended by artists like Esther Ferrer, Isidoro Valcárcel, and Nacho Criado. The project “The Imperative Dream” (1991) is also significant, in which six Spanish and six international artists joined forces to approach their work from an ethic of resistance. The exhibition aimed to rethink the relationship between art and politics and expand the dialogue between art and social space. This exhibition, which transformed el Círculo In a field of political and poetic friction, it will be the starting point of La Lechuza de Minerva, a proposal that will be inaugurated on March 3 and in which artists, activists and collectives are invited to occupy the building with proposals that activate a disruptive energy that allows analyzing the role and power of art in the city, institutions and collective life.

The Poetry Evenings were held between 1990 and 1995, and featured poets of all generations, including some of the most important voices in national and international poetry. These evenings resonated particularly strongly in 1993 with the recital by the American poet Allen Ginsberg, a key figure of the Beat Generation. His passionate recitation of one of his best-known poems, "Howl," a poignant lament about the cultural and spiritual journey of a generation, left a profound impression on the audience that filled the Fernando de Rojas Theater.

Music, theater and film

Music was a fundamental pillar from the beginning of this new phase. The most outstanding initiative in this discipline was the creation of the Group CírculoLed by José Luis Temes, the group became one of the most prestigious contemporary music ensembles in Spain. Its main activities included concerts, collaborations with the Contemporary Art Workshops, recording albums, and promoting emerging artists. The group participated in national festivals in Alicante, Valencia, and Barcelona, ​​as well as international festivals in cities such as Rome, Paris, Vienna, and New York.

The activity in the theater section was extraordinary. Without making distinctions between generations or aesthetic approaches, priority was given to contemporary Spanish authors, such as Domingo Miras, Lourdes Ortiz, Ernesto Caballero, Fernando Savater, Albert Boadella, and Fernando Arrabal. Highlights included the premieres of Alfonso Sastre's *La taberna fantástica* and Fermín Cabal's *Caballito del diablo*, both in 1985, along with the cycle dedicated to Samuel Beckett (1985), Enrique Buenaventura's *La orgía* (1986), and the International Feminist Theater Festival in 1987.

El Cine Estudio It began filming in March 1999 with the aim of offering a quality program dedicated to the best of cinema, while also supporting emerging talent. Its predecessor was the Image and Sound department. It opened with the film Casting, by Fernando Merinero, followed by Sonatine, by the Japanese director Takeshi Kitano. Later came the Short Film Showcase subsidized by the Community of Madrid, the European Film Week, and the Youth Film Week—initiatives that defined the character of this unique cinema in the city. Today, the Cine Estudio It is part of the prestigious Treasures of European Film Culture list, compiled by the European Film Academy, as a place of great value for European cinema.

carnival ball

Masked balls are one of the most traditional activities in el Círculo And one of the most successful. Initiated in 1891, they were first interrupted in 1936 due to political instability. After resuming in 1948 as the Grand Ball in Celebration of Regional Costume, they were suspended again in 1955 and not revived until 84. From the following year onward, artists were commissioned to design the poster and writers to write the opening proclamation. Among the artists were Antonio Saura, Julio Le Parc, Eduardo Arroyo, and Juan Genovés. Among the writers, Rafael Alberti, Francisco Nieva, Lourdes Ortiz, and Terenci Moix contributed their writing to extol the carnivals.

Also during this period, the Continuous Reading of Don Quixote was implemented, with the aim of promoting Book Day. Since its first edition in 1997, the event has attracted leading figures from the world of culture (playwrights, writers, artists, musicians), politics, and thousands of citizens. From 1998 onwards, the reading has been inaugurated by the winner of the Cervantes Prize. To further this celebration, and with the goal of bringing the book festival to the streets of Madrid, the Night of Max Estrella was added in 1998. From mid-afternoon until midnight, hundreds of people strolled through various locations in Madrid's bohemian district, where aspects of Valle-Inclán's play *Luces de Bohemia* were recreated.