Matadero Madrid Kicks Off the New Season with the L.E.V. Festival, an Exhibition by Carlos Aires, and a Programme Dedicated to Choreographer Damien Jalet
Cineteca Madrid and Centro Danza Matadero will present a special cycle from September 5 to 12 dedicated to Damien Jalet, Madonna’s choreographer and a collaborator of Marina Abramović and Thom Yorke.
- The literature and publishing festival Back to the Book, running from September 11 to 13, will feature participants such as Julieta Venegas, Paco Roca, and Lucía Solla Sobral.
- From December 10 to 13, Cineteca Madrid will host the ninth edition of Animario, the Madrid International Contemporary Animation Festival.
- The Medialab programme will develop its collaborative research laboratory LAB 5: "The Mechanics of Truth".
- Among the numerous family activities, embroidery workshops and avant-garde film sessions organised by Cineteca Madrid will take center stage.
Matadero Madrid, a venue managed by the Area of Culture, Tourism and Sport of the Madrid City Council, is putting the finishing touches on the programming for its autumn season kickoff in September, marked by the return of annual highlights such as L.E.V. Matadero (Visual Electronics and Extended Realities Festival), running from September 17 to 20, and Animario (Madrid International Contemporary Animation Festival), organised by Cineteca Madrid from December 10 to 13.
From September 11 to January 24, Matadero Madrid’s Nave 0 will host the exhibition Dance, Dance, Otherwise We Are Lost by artist Carlos Aires, as part of the Abierto x Obras programme. Curated by Jose Luis Romo, the installation invites the public onto a dance floor built inside a shored-up space. Functioning as a sculptural ensemble, this site-specific work prompts viewers to navigate emotions ranging from euphoria to deep unease.
One of the major highlights of the rentrée will be the cycle organised by Cineteca Madrid and Centro Danza Matadero dedicated to the "choreographer of the stars," Damien Jalet, which includes screenings of several of his works for the camera from September 5 to 12. Also that same month, from September 11 to 13, Matadero Madrid and Casa del Lector will host the independent literature and publishing festival Back to the Book, which this year will feature Julieta Venegas presenting her debut novel, Norteña.
Meanwhile, the Medialab programme opens the season by developing its collaborative research laboratory LAB 5: "The Mechanics of Truth", which addresses one of today's most pressing issues: the technological production of the real. Furthermore, the Intermediae programme kicks off the new season by rolling out the three projects selected for the second edition of the Intermediae Distribuido open call. Similarly, the Centre for Artistic Residences (CRA) will welcome new resident artists to develop their projects, opening its doors to the public once again on November 21 to showcase the creators' work.
Children and families will have dedicated spaces and proposals to explore handicrafts through collective creation.
L.E.V. Matadero: Visual Electronics and Extended Realities Festival
Curated by the Datatron platform and organised by Matadero Madrid, L.E.V. Matadero celebrates its eighth edition from September 17 to 20, cementing its status as a benchmark in exploring the intersections between art, science, and technology. The festival brings together some of the most innovative proposals in sound, audiovisual, and digital creation through a programme featuring concerts, audiovisual performances, installations, stage pieces, and extended reality experiences. Additionally, as a precursor to the festival, the XR Camp will take place from September 16 to 18—a professional gathering linked to the European network RIT: Realities in Transition.
Dance, Dance, Otherwise We Are Lost: Carlos Aires’ Exhibition in Abierto x Obras
From September 11 to January 24, the Abierto x Obras cycle takes over with a site-specific exhibition created by artist Carlos Aires (Ronda, 1974) titled Dance, Dance, Otherwise We Are Lost. The exhibition deploys over a hundred props (supports) and twenty screens inside Nave 0, the former cold storage room of the municipal slaughterhouse. The visible scars of this space—damaged in a past fire—alongside the memory of its violence, have served as the artist's starting point for the installation.
The creator invites viewers to step onto a dance floor within a resilient, shored-up space. Ruin, darkness, and euphoria merge into a sensory piece that plunges visitors into a metal forest populated by mysterious figures who accompany them through a haunting soundscape. Dance and unease, night and euphoria hand in hand in this piece, marking Aires’ first solo exhibition for a public institution in Madrid.
Cycle Dedicated to Choreographer and Video Artist Damien Jalet
From September 5 to 12, Cineteca Madrid and Centro Danza Matadero dedicate a cycle to the fascinating dialogue between creator and choreographer Damien Jalet and the moving image. Spanning horror, the musical, music videos, avant-garde cinema, and documentaries, the selection features films, music videos, and short films where Jalet unleashes his talent. Additionally, the artist will lead a practical dance masterclass open to dancers, choreographers, and filmmakers on September 12.
Renowned for his visually striking, contemporary style, the Franco-Belgian creator and choreographer has garnered international acclaim in recent years for his celebrated work, including choreographing Jacques Audiard’s musical film Emilia Pérez, serving as creative advisor and choreographer for Madonna on The Celebration Tour and her most recent Confessions II, and choreographing the viral music video STORM by rapper Yung Lean. He has also collaborated with artist Marina Abramović and musician Thom Yorke.
From December 10 to 13, Animario—the Madrid International Contemporary Animation Festival—returns for its ninth edition, reinforcing its position as a premier meeting point for cutting-edge animation. Audiences and professionals will gather for screenings, panel discussions, networking meetings, and workshops. Once again, the festival will champion contemporary creation through its two main competitive categories: the International Short Film Competition and the 9th Animario Animation Production Award.
Back to the Book: The Independent Literature and Publishing Festival
The third edition of the Back to the Book festival, running from September 11 to 13 at Matadero Madrid and Casa del Lector, embraces internationalisation this year. Singer-songwriter Julieta Venegas, comic book artist Paco Roca, and writer Lucía Solla Sobral headline the cultural programme, joined by figures such as Sara Torres, Moderna de Pueblo, Marta Sanz, María Bastarós, and Mónica Ojeda, among many others.
Family Activities: Weaving, Embroidering, Exploring
This autumn, the family programme returns to Matadero Madrid with a schedule placing handicrafts and textile arts centre stage. In October, alongside artist and illustrator Daniel Tornero, families will embroider a large textile piece using coloured threads to create an imaginary landscape of the venue’s inhabitants. Threads will also intertwine on October 24 during a special day dedicated to the practice of weaving, featuring workshops and conversations inviting young and old alike to pick up needles, handle wools, and discover the benefits of the craft.
Cineteca will host morning sessions of avant-garde cinema and games on September 27 and November 1, inviting audiences to discover new worlds and perceptual universes. From November 13 to 19, families will have the opportunity to craft spooky-fun masks for Halloween or take part in a collective creation where wood, fabrics, and light play offer a rich sensory experience.
Medialab Explores the "Mechanics" of Truth in LAB 5
The fifth edition of Medialab’s collaborative research laboratory, LAB 5: The Mechanics of Truth, tackles one of today's most burning questions: the technological production of the real. The programme brings together artists, designers, researchers, journalists, technologists, and scientists to explore these phenomena, dissect them, and imagine alternatives. To this end, Medialab offers a recurring schedule of experimental workshops ("Systems Study"), a collective reading group on AI, a project prototyping lab, an exhibition in Nave Una featuring four site-specific installations (October–December 2026), and, in late November, the fifth edition of the OpenLAB festival.
Furthermore, the new term will mark the conclusion of research residencies for artists Andrea Muniáin, Paula Ramos Mollá, Calin Segal, and Álvaro Soto, while the residents for the 2027 season will be introduced in alignment with Medialab's core working lines and in dialogue with the centre's activities and associated communities. Meanwhile, the Centre for Artistic Residences will continue hosting the FabLAB for its residents. In parallel, working groups such as Electronic Repair Café, Costura Remake, CreaXR, Interactivas, The Things Network, and Wikiesfera will continue their active work.
Intermediae Distribuido, Focusing on Arganzuela and Usera
The Intermediae programme opens the new season by rolling out the three projects selected in the second edition of the Intermediae Distribuido open call (running until September 14). This initiative aims to support participatory cultural projects driven by artists, creators, agents, and cultural or social collectives wishing to develop collaborative proposals in dialogue with the districts surrounding Matadero Madrid: Arganzuela and Usera.
Additionally, October will see the presentation of results from two projects selected in the first edition of Intermediae Distribuido through public-facing activities. The first, developed by researcher and writer Inés Plasencia Camps, explores the cultures of mourning in southern Madrid. The second, driven by Yuan iuan—an artist whose research focuses on the Usera neighbourhood and the spaces of encounter and daily life within the Chinese diaspora—aims to activate a memory archive.
Open House at the Centre for Artistic Residences
The Centre for Artistic Residences (CRA), focused on articulating resources and support networks for the city's creative fabric, will continue providing workspace in Nave 16 for various creators working on themes linked to the environment, art and education, experimental electronic music, music production, and visual arts. Joining these profiles as a new addition are film residencies aimed at audiovisual projects in the development phase.
Also under the CRA Produce programme—which has previously featured artists such as Fernando Sánchez Castillo—María Jerez has been invited to reflect upon motherhood, care work, and artistic production. Public process-sharing sessions will begin in October via En boca de artista ("In the Artist's Words"), a cycle of conversations where visual arts residents reflect publicly on their practice and the themes underlying their research. In keeping with this, the centre will hold its Open House day on November 21, offering a special event to showcase the artists' work.