After a spell at the New York Metropolitan Museum, the vast majority of the exhibition that was on in the US city last year has arrived at the Royal Palace with the title ‘Threads of Splendour. Baroque tapestries’. Artists such as Pietro da Cortona, Charles Le Brun, Simon Vouet and Pedro Pablo Rubens, devoted part of their creations to tapestry design.
Title: Threads of Splendour. Baroque tapestries
Date: Until 1 June
Venue: Royal Palace
Address: C/ Bailén, s/n. Madrid
Time: Monday to Saturday, from 9.30am until 5pm; Sundays and public holidays, from 9am until 2pm

The video artist Chen Chieh-jen, one of the world’s best known Taiwanese artists due to his contribution to recovering the historical memory of his country, has revealed processes of violence and subjugation through video, performance and photography.
Title: Chen Chieh-jen: Military tribunal and prison (2007-2008) Date: Until 12 May
Venue: Reina Sofía Museum (MNCARS)
Address: C/ Santa Isabel, 52. Madrid
Time: From Monday to Saturday, from 10am to 9pm; Sundays, from 10am to 2.30pm
Price: 6 euros. Latin American and Andorran citizens will be entitled to free or discounted entry. Holders of a young person’s card (Carné Joven), student card or international equivalents, and groups linked to cultural or educational institutions will be entitled to a 50% discount. People below the age of 18, above the age of 65 or pensioners, the unemployed and friends of the Museum are entitled to free entry. Guided tours on Mondays and Wednesdays at 5pm, and on Saturdays at 11am.

Otto Dix. Retrato de Hugo Erfurth. Técnicas y secretos is the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum’s 21st exhibition in its Contexts of the Permanent Collection series, in which a single work from the museum’s collection – in this case, Hugo Erfurth and Dog, painted in 1926 by the one of the great German artists of the twentieth century, Otto Dix – is selected, analysed and presented to the public in the context in which it was created. This exhibition is the result of a joint research project led by the museum’s Modern Painting and Conservation Departments, and its purpose is twofold. One objective of the exhibition is to study Dix’s realist technique and analyse his relationship with his friend, the renowned portrait photographer Hugo Erfurth, and on this basis, to examine a central chapter of one of the major artistic debates of the time, the comparison between painting and photography.

Title: Otto Dix. Retrato de Hugo Erfurth. Técnicas y secretos (Otto Dix. Portrait of Hugo Erfurth. Techniques and secrets) Opening date: 03/11/2008
Closing date: 05/18/2008
Venue: Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza. Rooms 47 and 48
Address: Paseo del Prado 8, 28014 Madrid
Opening hours: Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Ticket booth closes at 6:30 p.m.
Entrance fee: free of charge

The Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas, in collaboration with the AEPD (the Spanish Association of Design Professionals), is reclaiming the figure of Vicente Sánchez Pablos, a self-taught designer whose work during the 1960’s and 1970’s contributed to the renovation of Spanish twentieth century furniture design. Specifically, the exhibition takes an autobiographical approach. It is organised in three rooms, the first of which displays his earliest creations and his first large series of furniture, the España series (1962-1963). The second room presents a documentary on the work of Sánchez Pablos and photographs of diverse pieces, and the third shows the Mediterráneo series (1967), in addition to cane and wicker furniture. The show brings together a total of 35 pieces of furniture and other objects, including a chess set and MAS catalogues from the company of that name founded by the designer. Sánchez Pablos fused tradition with modernity and succeeded in combining functionality and quality materials at a low cost. Vicente Sánchez Pablos (Fuentes de Béjar, Salamanca, 1927) began his career as a builder under the influence of his father, who was also a builder.

Title: Territorio Interior. Redescubriendo al diseñador Vicente Sánchez Pablos (Inner Territory. Rediscovering the designer Vicente Sánchez Pablos)
Opening date: 02/08/2008
Closing date: 06/01/2008 Venue: Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas
Address: Montalban 12
Opening hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Sundays and holidays, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday afternoons, 5 to 8 p.m., free of charge.
Entrance fee: 2.40 Euros. Reduced price, 1.20 euros. One-year pass, 24.04 Euros. Free or reduced price entrance for citizens of Andorra and Latin American countries. Guided tours of the permanent collection. The museum’s volunteer docents offer free tours of the permanent collection to all visitors on Sundays at 11:30 a.m. and to groups on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays (by appointment).

Submerged for years due to the flooding of the Nile and the Mediterranean waters, the remains of the Egyptian cities of Heracleion, Canope and the port of Alexandria emerge in an exhibition at the Matadero Madrid.
Title: Egypt’s Sunken Treasures
Date: Until 28 September
Venue: Matadero Madrid
Address: C/ de la Chopera, 14. Madrid
Time: Monday to Saturday, from 11am to 9pm; Sundays, from 10am to 3pm.
Price: Free entry

The exhibit, organized around a core of works from the Minimalist movement of the 60's and 70's, takes a methodical approach rather than simply showing a selection of representative pieces. The show presents the formally minimized ideas of some of the artistic tendencies of the 60's and 70's in an essentially broader context.

Title: MAXImin. Tendencias de máxima minimización en el arte contemporáneo (MAXImin. Tendencies of Maximum Minimization in Contemporary Art)
Opening date: 02/08/2008
Closing date: 05/25/2008
Venue: Fundación Juan March
Address: Castelló 77. Madrid.
Opening hours: Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays and holidays, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Entrance fee: Free guided tours, Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and Fridays from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. Guided tours start every half hour and admit 15 persons maximum, in order of arrival. Private tours by appointment only at 91 435 4240 (ext. 296) and may not exceed 15 persons.

The Brazilian artist has approached the exhibition as a circuit of different interventions created specifically for the public spaces in the Reina Sofía Museum (corridors, staircases, garden, patio, façade, gift shop and library), thus stepping away from the more orthodox concept of exhibition rooms.
Title: José Damasceno: Coordinates and appearances
Date: Until 19 May
Venue: Reina Sofía Museum (MNCARS). C/ Santa Isabel, 52. Madrid
Time: From Monday to Saturday, from 10am to 9pm; Sundays, from 10am to 2.30pm
Price: 6 euros. Latin American and Andorran citizens will be entitled to free or discounted entry. Holders of a young person’s card (Carné Joven), student card or international equivalents, and groups linked to cultural or educational institutions will be entitled to a 50% discount. People below the age of 18, above the age of 65 or pensioners, the unemployed and friends of the Museum are entitled to free entry. Guided tours on Mondays and Wednesdays at 5pm, and on Saturdays at 11am.
Genre: Various

Festimad is one of the biggest events in the Madrid Region. It is a true showcase of alternative tendencies in music, fashion and fanzines, amongst other areas.
Title: Festimad Sur 2008
Start date: 6 June
End date: 7 June
Venue: Butarque Municipal Stadium
Address: C/ Aquitectura, s/n. Leganés

‘Jamming’ is a show of pure improvisation and creation. Each performance is unique and unrepeatable and is constructed entirely before the audience’s eyes. The audience member is an active part of the show, since starting with titles written by the public, the actors will create and perform a series of improvisations in accordance with certain styles.
Title: Jamming
Date: Until 31 May
Venue: Teatro Independiente Sur (TIS)
Address: C/ Primavera, 11. Madrid
Time: Fridays and Saturdays at 10.30pm
Price: 14 euros
Ticket sales: Telephone: 617 164 686. Internet: www.teatrotis.com – Purchase ticket

‘The catharsis of tomato throwing’ is a cabaret show in which the audience can act as judge and critic, by throwing tomatoes if they don’t like what they see. The characters interact with them whilst acting out short dramatic situations.
Title: The catharsis of tomato throwing
Date: Until 28 June
Venue: New Design Centre. C/ Doctor Fourquet, 31. Madrid Time: Fridays and Saturdays at 10.30pm
Price: 18 euros
Ticket sales: Box office: one hour before the performance. Telephone: 91 539 57 67 (Monday to Friday until 6pm) – Purchase ticket