YEMA

Four Portuguese and Spanish artists have been sharing workspace in Matadero Madrid´s new Centre for Artists in Residence over the last six weeks. They have decided to call the resulting exhibition YEMA. This exhibition is part of El Ranchito, a residency programme organised by Matadero Madrid and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance (AECID), which have been working together since 2013 to foster international links among local artistic communities and their international mobility. This event involves an exchange between Matadero Madrid and Galerias Municipais - EGEAC and Zé Dos Bois from Lisbon, Portugal.

We are very excited to present this special edition of El Ranchito Lisboa (Lisbon), featuring the Portuguese artists Pedro Henriques and Ana Manso, and the Spanish artists Rubén M. Riera and Cristina Mejías. The event is curated by Margarida Mendes (Portugal) and Virginia Torrente (Spain).

In addition to the relationships and collaborations that might germinate, grow, and be nurtured by this residency, there were also private visits by professionals from the world of culture, such as agents, curators and critics, who came to the Centre for Artists in Residence to discover the artists´ work.

The results of this work will be presented to the public at the Matadero Madrid's Centre for Artists in Residence on Friday, 23 February as part of ARCO, and will be on display until 1 April. Part of the collaboration with Galerias Municipais - EGEAC includes the display of the work of Pedro Henriques and Ana Manso at ARCOmadrid. The second stage of this exchange will take place in the spring, when Cristina Mejías and Rubén M. Riera do their residencies at Galerias Municipais - EGEAC in Portugal and display their work at ARCOlisboa.

In addition, an artistic exchange programme has been launched through an agreement between the Centre for Artistic Residencies and Lisbon's Zé Dos Bois gallery, in which both institutions will host residencies for musicians and other sonic artists from the neighbouring country. The guest musicians in 2018 are Gabriel Ferrandini from Portugal, who will spend time at the Centre for Artistic Residencies, and JASSS, who will develop her project at the Zé Dos Bois gallery in Lisbon. Matadero Madrid's Centre for Artists in Residence and AECID would like to thank everyone who has taken part in one way or another in developing El Ranchito Lisbon. We would particularly like to thank the artists for their work and efforts during the residency, and the collaboration and support received from the partner institutions. Finally, we would like to announce the other two events planned for this year, with the international residency centres Queens Collective in Marrakesh, Morocco in the spring, and Hammana Artist House in Beirut, Lebanon, in the autumn.

Matadero Madrid´s Centre for Artists in Residence and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Humanitarian Assistance.