Route through the art galleries of Carabanchel
Although historically Carabanchel has been known for its working-class identity, its block architecture, and its proximity to the old prison (demolished more than 15 years ago), today the neighborhood is also emerging as a cultural hotspot that attracts both locals and visitors from outside. Amid this transformation, we can enjoy an inspiring tour through a series of art galleries that highlight contemporary art and the creations of local artists.
We’ve made our own selection, which includes our favorite galleries from District 11, one of the 21 districts that make up Madrid. To take this tour, we got behind the wheel of the new 02 model from our partner Lynk & Co, a 100% electric crossover coupe (with a range of up to 445 km). This model, like its predecessor, the 01, is incredibly comfortable, quiet, and very easy to drive. Additionally, it features fourteen Harman Kardon speakers, a panoramic sunroof, frameless doors, 5G connectivity, and many other amazing features.
What makes this route interesting is that it offers an alternative to the more traditional art circuits in central Madrid. While the large galleries in the Barrio de las Letras or Salamanca continue to dominate the city’s art market, Carabanchel has positioned itself as a hub for innovation and experimentation, providing space for artistic proposals that explore urban, social, and experimental themes. This has led, in recent years, to attracting musicians, filmmakers, writers, painters, photographers, artisans, and designers who have found this area to be a more suitable place to develop their work or even to live.
A tour of emerging art
Our favorite art galleries are the following:
Sabrina Amrani (Sallaberry, 52)
Sabrina Amrani opened in 2011 with her first space in the historic Malasaña neighborhood (Madrid). The gallery’s international program focuses on artists and practices that echo contemporary values and concerns related to the Global South. For over a decade, the gallery has built bridges between artists, institutions, art professionals, and the public. In 2019, she opened her second space in Carabanchel, a 600-square-meter platform dedicated to institutional-scale exhibitions.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM.
Currently, the gallery is closed, and there are no exhibitions available.
Belmonte Galería (Belmonte de Tajo, 61)
Sol Abaurrea and Ana Coronel de Palma opened this gallery in March 2021 in an old cow watering trough under the name Intersticio. However, in September 2022, the gallery changed its name and moved to Carabanchel. This contemporary art gallery focuses on showcasing and promoting young artists. It currently represents four artists: Lucía Bayón (ES, 1994), Andrés Izquierdo (ES, 1993), Augusta Lardy (CH, 1994), and Martin Llavaneras (ES, 1983).
The space is also used to organize events, such as the one we attended last weekend: Grinch House, a Christmas market with brands we love like The Needo, Pampa Candles, Bastida for Work, Fun Furniture for Friends, and Fondo Supper Club, among others.
Opening hours: Wednesday to Friday, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM; Saturday, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
Current exhibition: “Hit the Dirt” by Claudia Rebeca Lorenzo (November 21, 2024 – February 15, 2025).
Veta by Fer Francés (Antoñita Jiménez, 37 – 43)
In November 2021, Fer Francés launched his new personal project in Carabanchel: VETA by Fer Francés, a 1,200-square-meter space dedicated to painting, aiming to become a sanctuary for the freshest art, which thrives behind the doors of garages, industrial warehouses, and courtyards.
The gallery’s program includes artists at various stages of their careers, fostering dialogue between generations. It features well-known Spanish artists like Abraham Lacalle, Matías Sánchez, and Santiago Ydáñez, as well as established international figures like Erik Parker, Christian Rex van Minnen, Theresa Chromati, and Manuel Ocampo. The gallery also highlights emerging artists from around the world, such as Juan de Morenilla, Atanda Quadri Adebayo, and Kang Haoxian.
Currently, VETA is undergoing a major transformation. While the space remains open to the public, it is being renovated and expanded by the prestigious Spanish architecture studio RCR, winners of the 2017 Pritzker Prize.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 11:00 AM to 8:00 PM; Sundays, Mondays, and public holidays (National and Madrid Community) closed.
Current exhibitions: “Too Good to be True” by Larry Madrigal and “Born Free in the Golden Age” by Christian Rex Van Minnen (November 21, 2024 – February 14, 2025).
Memoria (C/ Morenés Arteaga, 18, local)
Memoria is a gallery dedicated to contemporary art with two locations, one in central Madrid and another in the artistic district of Carabanchel. Its mission is to build compensatory narratives by shifting aesthetics from the periphery, showing a strong interest in the historical art scene of Latin America. The gallery also focuses on revisionist research that involves a broader spectrum of artists, geographies, and periods. The gallery opened in September 2020 and was founded by curator, artist, and collector Alejandro de Villota.
Opening hours: Thursday, 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM; Friday, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM and 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM; Saturday, 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM.
Currently, the gallery is closed, and there are no exhibitions available.
Planta 1 (Víctor Manuel III, 18)
In this independent exhibition space, an independent curatorial project develops, questioning the current status or system of contemporary art. It is also one of the lines of work of the non-profit association Estética Masiva, created in 2016. Planta 1 focuses on the opening and dynamization of artistic discourses, generating perceptual experiences of diverse kinds, moving beyond traditional fine arts, visual arts, or plastic arts, with particular emphasis on projects distinguished by their uniqueness, where artists invest special attention to research, experimentation, and innovation, aiming to break down current boundaries between artistic categories and approaching a much more open concept of “art”.
Opening hours: Thursday and Friday, 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM; Saturday, 11:30 AM to 2:30 PM.
Current exhibition: “Escenas de lo surreal” by Marta Soul (December 14, 2024 – February 22, 2025).
La Oficina (Morenés Arteaga 9)
This former carpentry workshop, now converted into an art gallery, is led by Ada Cerdá and Adriana Felizia.
Opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM; Saturday, 11:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
Current exhibition: “Política de las formas” by Chilean artist Voluspa Jarpa. Based on the declassification carried out in the United States regarding the 1973 coup against Chilean president Salvador Allende, the artist initiates a sophisticated discussion on the legibility of the archive.
Hypper House
This independent space for contemporary creation was born in 2022 with the aim of exploring the relationships between the physical and digital worlds, hosting a series of expanded and experimental artistic practices. This year, they began offering residencies for contemporary artists based in Spain (OPEN CALL) whose work explores the intersections between physical and digital worlds. This call aims to select an artistic project that will be presented in this space in February 2025 and will receive a financial grant of €6,000.
The space is only accessible by appointment via email: house@hyperstudio.es.
La Gran (Nicolás Morales, 38, Planta 1)
This contemporary art gallery was founded in 2015 and has been located in Carabanchel since the fall of 2019. It represents and supports the work and careers of sixteen artists (eleven of them women) who are interested in the interaction between aesthetic phenomena and their social or political contexts: Marina Núñez, Enrique Marty, Ignacio Pérez-Jofre, Laura Salguero, Luis Pérez Calvo, Elisa Terroba, Josep Tornero, Mariajosé Gallardo, Moreno&Grau, Verónica Vicente, Laura López Balza, Eva Díez, Ana Teresa Barboza, Cristina Ramírez, María Acuyo, and Javier Rodríguez Pino.
Opening hours: Thursday and Friday, 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM and 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM; Saturday, 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM.
Current exhibition: “Una historia espeluznante” by Javier Rodríguez Pino (November 16, 2024 – February 8, 2025).
Gaviota (Gaviota, 25)
The workspace of Burr Studio is beautiful and also serves as an exhibition space. It can only be visited by appointment.
Currently, there is no exhibition available, but for the upcoming edition of the Madrid Design Festival, which will take place from February 6 to March 15, 2025, artist Jorge Penades will present his new exhibition: “UPROOTED”.
Benveniste Contemporary (Nicolás Morales, 37)
Dan Benveniste (Copenhagen, 1966) is a printmaker and publisher of original graphic works with 40 years of professional experience. Benveniste Contemporary was established in Madrid in 1993, where it exclusively prints and publishes contemporary graphic works, produced in close collaboration with national and international artists. With the help of his mentors Elena Alonso and Usama Habil, his goal is to push printmaking to its limits, regularly releasing series of unique pieces created over extended periods of work. The gallery collaborates with established artists as well as emerging talents, and specializes in photogravure and large-format prints. Since 1999, under the brand The Print Subscribers Club, Benveniste Contemporary has published a portfolio every six months with works by a selected artist for an exclusive group of subscribers.
Opening hours: Monday to Friday, 9:30 AM to 5:00 PM.
Current exhibition: “La /estructura/ bajo presión” by Juan López.
Artist Studios
During our visit to the area, we had the chance to visit the studios of Mister Piro, Irene Molina, and Sabek, an inspiring space where all three artists work regularly.
The visual and urban artist Misterpiro (Madrid, 1994) began his career on the streets with graffiti, while perfecting his techniques in the studio by combining watercolors and acrylic paints. After much dedication, he managed to merge these two seemingly opposing techniques into a unique style.
The result is vibrant, colorful work that brings the subtle techniques of watercolor into the urban context in surprising ways, taking the viewer on a visual journey between figuration and total abstraction.
Irene Molina‘s (Granada, 1997) artistic production seeks to bridge material and virtual spaces, where sculpture coexists with the screen. Her focus on the current virtual environment centers on creating digital spaces, visual errors (glitch), and consciousness, developing an interdisciplinary project that includes photogrammetry, 3D modeling, animation, 3D printing, and the creation of sculptural pieces.
Sabek‘s work arises from the dichotomy between power and strength, energy and dynamism, always seeking a perfect symbiosis. The essence of his work flows across the canvas and is then isolated to synthesize a relationship between the material and immaterial, the figurative and the abstract. The animals that inspire him are often represented as stylized, black figures, such as black cats.
Sabek creates compositions without intending to give logic to the symbol’s meaning, so his works don’t reflect reality but rather create it.
In addition to these studios, Carabanchel is home to Casa Antillón, a collective space for art, design, and architecture, and the studio of Álvaro Catalán de Ocón, among others.
Art as a driver of regeneration
Ultimately, the most interesting aspect of this entire artistic scene is its contribution to the urban regeneration of Carabanchel, attracting a young, diverse audience curious to explore proposals that do not follow the dominant trend in the art market.
This interest has made the neighborhood an increasingly attractive place for those seeking an alternative Madrid—less touristy and more authentic. Moreover, it is helping to revitalize the local economy, as many of the galleries and independent spaces collaborate with neighborhood shops and bars, creating a network of mutual support that strengthens the community.
Hotspots in Carabanchel
While in the area, we also enjoyed a delicious specialty coffee at Dopa Café, bought sweets and bread at Obrador Panorama, and had lunch at La Capa.
This restaurant is a must in the neighborhood. Not only for its genuine and unpretentious charm but also because it is run by three delightful guys: Arturo, Piru, and Pablo.
The tortilla de patatas, mushroom cannelloni, and Russian salad are delicious, and although we didn’t try it, the Comtessacasera dessert comes highly recommended by many.
Enjoy!
(*) Photos: CC/magazine.
