CAN Madrid celebrates its tenth anniversary and redefines New Contemporary Art during Art Week

From March 5 to 8, 2026, CAN Madrid Art Fair celebrates its tenth anniversary with a strategic shift: the fair, a pioneer in Spain in placing so-called New Contemporary Art at the heart of the market, officially adopts the brand Contemporary Art Now and changes its name to CAN Madrid. The name change is not merely cosmetic; it points to a desire for international consolidation and a broader discourse that reinforces its position within Madrid Art Week.

True to its home at Matadero Madrid, the former industrial complex transformed into a center for contemporary creation, the fair will bring together more than fifty national and international galleries. In this context, CAN Madrid asserts its distinctiveness compared to other events on the calendar: here, the focus is not so much on the safe havens of the market as on practices that have emerged on the margins and that today are redefining global visual codes.

From its inception, the fair has served as a radar for trends linked to urban art and its offshoots: from post-graffiti to pop surrealism, from new pop art to hybrid languages that integrate illustration, digital culture, and internet aesthetics. What was once considered peripheral or countercultural has found in CAN a space for critical and commercial legitimization. In its tenth edition, this mission remains, but with a maturity that allows us to observe how those underground energies have become more formally sophisticated and their discourses more complex.

The balanced presence of emerging, mid-career, and established artists creates an ecosystem where productive tensions are evident: spontaneity versus market strategy, urban expression versus institutionalization, popular iconography versus political reflection. More than a showcase, the fair proposes a cartography of sensibilities that engage with the present, traversed by issues such as identity, mass culture, and contemporary visual saturation.

The Young Galleries section once again plays a key role, supporting emerging spaces that focus on discovering and mentoring new artists. Meanwhile, the Talks program opens a space for reflection where curators, artists, and cultural agents analyze the shifts in contemporary art, while The Art Shaker—an invitation-only program that brings together collectors, gallerists, institutions, and artists—reinforces the event's relational dimension, emphasizing that contemporary art is not only produced, but also negotiated, discussed, and activated within a community.

“We want to bring together artists who aren’t seen at other fairs, to discover new talent,” says its director, Sergio Sancho. That statement encapsulates an ambition that has made CAN Madrid an ambassador for the city: a fair that capitalizes on Madrid’s open and vibrant character, its traditional Madrid heritage reinterpreted in a contemporary way, and its expansive understanding of culture as a shared experience.

Special programs

CAN Madrid's parallel programming expands the trade fair experience with an agenda that goes beyond the exhibition space and activates different points of the city.

The 2026 Collections Awards will be held on March 5th, an event that recognizes the commitment of collectors and institutions to contemporary art. From March 6th to 8th, CAN Mahou Talks will take place, a series of conversations bringing together artists, curators, and industry professionals to discuss current challenges in the art world and the market.

The fair will also incorporate CAN Design, a space dedicated to the intersection of art, design and new visual narratives; the Absolut Tabasco x Piro intervention, which explores the collaborative possibilities between brand and artistic creation; and the proposal of Kave Gallery, which engages with contemporary design from a functional and aesthetic perspective.

The intersection of technology and creation will be present at Cupra City Garage x Digital Art, while the Public Art Program will extend the fair to the urban space, reinforcing its vocation to connect with the city beyond the fairgrounds.

The agenda is completed by collaborations such as Movistar Plus+ x Sirat , which links art and audiovisual production, and Five Senses Bowl x Healthy Poke, an experiential proposal that integrates gastronomy and culture in a contemporary key.