An exciting new addition to Madrid's Paseo del Arte, or Art Walk, the CaixaForum Madrid is only steps away from the newly-expanded Museo del Prado, the Thyssen Bornemisza (enlarged in 2004) and the Reina Sofía which doubled in size in 2005.

One of the few examples of turn-of-the-century industrial architecture in Madrid's historical center, the cast-iron and brick Central Eléctrica del Mediodía has been expanded into a seven-story complex of over 100,000 square feet - five times its original size.The building was almost in ruins by 2001 when the Caixa purchased it along with an adjoining gas station.

Jacques Herzog and Pierre de Meuron have designed an innovative "sculptural" building which seems to levitate over a newly-created public square on one side while an eye-catching vertical "garden" covers another side of its façade. The first of its kind in Spain, the 5,000-square-foot vertical garden by botanist Patrick Blanc is also his largest to date. This "living tapestry" has 15,000 plants of 250 different species.

CaixaForum Madrid emerges as a live space opening its doors to old, modern and contemporary art, to music and poetry festivals, to multimedia art, to debates on current affairs, to social symposiums and family and educational workshops. Its calendar is open to all disciplines and audiences, guaranteeing the success of an institution which contributes even more to the already rich cultural offering in Madrid.

by the architecture studio Herzog & de Meuron, and is located on Paseo del Prado, 36, next to the Art Walk with the three major museums in Madrid: the Prado, the Thyssen and the Reina Sofía.

Premises are fully accessible for people with reduced mobility and wheelchair users : ramps, accessible elevators and adapted toilets are available throughout the whole building including the bookshop and the bar-restaurant.

"Chaplin en imágenes"

"Chaplin in images" gathers some 300 documents, mainly photographs, posters, documentary material and scenes from films, sometimes unseen or unpublished, that follow Charles Chaplin (1889-1977) from the period when he created his Tramp character to the end of his career.

Chaplin was the first artist to achieve global media success. His films were shown everywhere in the world and his friendliness made him one of the most repeated and imitated icons of the 20th century. However, this exhibition goes beyond that naïve persona of The Tramp and reveals another facet of the character, which was also rude and unpleasant at times, as he appeared frequently in Chaplin's first movies.

The show includes two key items. One is the making of of a scene from The Great Dictator, filmed in colour by his brother Sydney, in which Chaplin appears dancing. The other is a short film that Fernand Léger made based on a cubist drawing of The Tramp.

The curator, Sam Stourdzé, has conceived the exhibition as a photograph of The Tramp himself, which slowly emerges to reveal its full complexity.

The Foundation of la "Caixa" Social and Cultural Outreach Projects (Obra Social Fundación "la Caixa") is Spain's largest corporate foundation.

Admission to exhibitions is free.

Caixaforum Madrid
Paseo del Prado, 36
28014 Madrid
Tel.: 00 34 91 330 73 00
www.laCaixa.es/ObraSocial

 

Rebecca Arce