The Netherlands, Guest Country to ARCO 2012

The ARCO 2012 committee, along with the embassy of The Netherlands and the Mondriaan Foundation, announced that The Netherlands will be the guest country at the Fair. Aimed at promoting Holland¿s art, the Mondriaan Foundation will participate in the process through several mediations. On one hand, the foundation has a presence at the IFEMA (Institución Ferial de Madrid) with a pavilion of its own that will serve as the gathering place to promote encounters between artists and followers of European art, as well as to promote the creation of talks and panel discussions centered on art from The Netherlands; and on the other, the Foundation will promote and sponsor the cultural exchange of prominent Spanish institution directors in Holland, with the objective of supporting an interest in the artistic activities of that Northwestern European country. According to Luis Cortés, the Executive President of IFEMA, ARCO's goal is not exclusively commercial in nature, for it is a source that gathers various artistic manifestations from the art world and supports their promotion. Nonetheless, commercial guidelines must be also in place. For the next edition of the event, twelve galleries from the guest country will be invited.