THE EDITORIAL
Some cities keep their traditions in a museum. Madrid walks them down the street. On Sunday morning a flock of sheep crosses the centre to pay a toll agreed in 1418, and on Wednesday Sebastião Salgado's oceans and glaciers open inside an old city reservoir. In between: a circus built around a mirror, a guitarist turning fifty on stage with his band, and a screenwriter's centenary in an Art Nouveau palace.
We've been through the calendar so you don't have to. Here's what's worth your week.
AT A GLANCE
Worth the early start: the Fiesta de la Trashumancia, Sunday morning, with the sheep.
Worth the ticket: The Mirror by Gravity & Other Myths at the Teatro Circo Price, from Thursday.
Worth the weekend: Twanguero's fiftieth birthday at Sala Villanos, Saturday night.
Worth the booking: Salgado's Aqua Mater opens Wednesday inside a former water deposit. Passes are timed.
Worth the free hour: Volver a mirar, the city's elevated water tank, open until Sunday.
THE WEEKLY CURATION
CIRCUS
THE EVENT: The Mirror, Gravity & Other Myths
WHERE: Teatro Circo Price, Ronda de Atocha 35
WHEN: 22 to 31 October. Opens Thursday 22 October at 20:00. 80 minutes, no interval
PRICE: 18€ to 25€
The Mirror: twelve acrobats ask who you are when you stop looking at yourself through other people's eyes
IGravity & Other Myths is a contemporary circus company founded in Adelaide in 2009. In The Mirror, twelve performers combine impossible balances, live music and humour in a piece about the image we project and the distance between how we see ourselves and how others see us. It runs eighty minutes straight through, in the Price's central ring.
The Edit Move
Take a seat in the front rows. A piece about being looked at works best when you can see faces, and the central ring keeps you close. Age recommended 15+.
For who it is
Anyone who wants circus as theatre, with live music and a question underneath.
For who it is not
Anyone bringing younger children.
MUSIC
THE EVENT: Twanguero 50 WHERE: Sala Villanos, Calle de Bernardino Obregón 18, Arganzuela WHEN: Saturday 24 October, 21:30. Doors at 21:00 PRICE: 20€ to 25€ WEB: https://salavillanos.es/evento/twanguero/
Twanguero turns fifty on stage, with the band and the guitars
Diego García, who plays as Twanguero, has billed the night in his own words: one night, the band, his guitars and fifty years of life. Capacity is limited.
The Edit Move
Book rather than counting on the door, with a limited capacity on a night like this.
For who it is
Anyone who follows Spanish guitar music and wants to see a working musician mark a milestone in a small room.
For who it is not
Anyone wanting a seated concert hall.
MUSIC
THE EVENT: Lê Quan Ninh, solo percussion (VANG VIII)
WHERE: Auditorio, CentroCentro, Plaza de Cibeles 1
WHEN: Saturday 24 October, 19:30
PRICE: 10€
A French percussionist plays a bass drum laid flat, and the room listens to what a drum can do when nobody is keeping time
Lê Quan Ninh plays solo as part of VANG, CentroCentro's series of avant-garde music, which also includes Conlon Nancarrow's player-piano studies on 12 December.
The Edit Move
Sit in the front rows. Half of what he does is quiet, and it's lost from the back. Note: recommended for ages 14 and over.
For who it is
Anyone who wants to hear what a drum can do when it isn't keeping time.
For who it is not
For who it is not Anyone who needs a melody to hold on to.
CULTURE
THE EVENT: Fiesta de la Trashumancia
WHERE: From Casa de Campo to the city centre. This year's route may end at Plaza Mayor
WHEN: Sunday 25 October, about 10:00 to 13:30
PRICE: Free
Once a year, a flock of sheep and goats walks through the middle of Madrid, and the city pays a medieval toll to let them through
The fiesta recalls a 1418 agreement between the shepherds of the Mesta and the city, and re-enacts the toll payment of fifty maravedís per thousand sheep. Shepherds and folk music and dance groups from Spain's droving regions accompany the flock. This year's route is not the usual one: with the camp at Sol, the flock is expected to leave Casa de Campo and finish at Plaza Mayor, where the toll ceremony normally held at Cibeles will take place.
The Edit Move
If it ends at Plaza Mayor, stay for the toll ceremony, it's the quieter, more ceremonial half.
For who it is
Anyone who wants to see a 600 year old civic ritual performed for real, not as a museum label.
For who it is not
Anyone who needs a fixed schedule, this is a working flock moving through a live city.
MUSIC
THE EVENT: Sabîl and Rocío Molina, solidarity concert
WHERE: Sala Villanos, Calle de Bernardino Obregón 18
WHEN: Sunday 25 October, 13:00. Doors at 12:30
PRICE: 20€ in advance, 25€ at the door
A Palestinian duo and one of flamenco's most serious dancers share a Sunday lunchtime stage
The Palestinian duo Sabîl are joined by the dancer and choreographer Rocío Molina for a benefit concert. The organisers say the takings go to emergency projects.
The Edit Move
Buy in advance, it's five euros cheaper. Molina dances a full programme of her own at the Teatros del Canal on 30 October.
For who it is
Anyone who wants flamenco and Palestinian music in a room small enough to hear every note, for a cause.
For who it is not
Anyone expecting a full-length Rocío Molina show. This is a guest appearance within someone else's concert.
CINEMA
THE EVENT: Vidas de Rafael Azcona: an exhibition, a restored El Verdugo, and a talk
WHERE: Palacio de Longoria (SGAE), Calle Fernando VI 4. The film screens at Sala Berlanga, Calle de Andrés Mellado 53
WHEN: Exhibition until Friday 30 October, 16:00 to 21:00.
Film: Friday 23 October.
Talk: Monday 26 October, 18:00
PRICE: Exhibition free. Talk free, with prior registration. Film ticket price 3,5€
Rafael Azcona wrote some of the sharpest, darkest comedies in Spanish cinema, and this week there is a free exhibition, a restored classic and a conversation about him
Azcona (1926 to 2008) was a screenwriter, and many of the films you'll hear Spaniards quote started on his page. His best-known partnership was with the director Luis García Berlanga. The centenary of his birth is marked with an exhibition at SGAE, the authors' society, in the Palacio de Longoria. It is laid out like an album of memories, first his life and then his film career, with a short film by the director David Trueba made from scenes Azcona wrote.
El verdugo (1963) is the one to know. It follows a young man who marries the daughter of the city's executioner and, to keep a flat, ends up taking over her father's job. It's a black comedy about the death penalty, made under Franco. A newly restored print screens on Friday 23 October at Sala Berlanga, followed by a talk. On Monday 26 October at 18:00, Trueba leads a conversation with people who worked with Azcona, with drinks afterwards.
The Edit Move
Go to the exhibition when it opens at 16:00, then stay for the talk at 18:00. The Palacio de Longoria is an Art Nouveau building you rarely get inside.
For who it is
Anyone who likes Spanish cinema's black comedy, or wants a free, specific reason to see inside the Longoria.
For who it is not
Anyone without Spanish. The exhibition, talks and film are all in Spanish.
ART
THE EVENT: Volver a mirar, Rosa Muñoz
WHERE: Segundo Depósito Elevado, Fundación Canal, Mateo Inurria 2 (Plaza de Castilla)
WHEN: Closes Sunday 25 October. 11:00 to 20:00, Wednesdays until 15:00
PRICE: Free, open access
A large video installation inside the city's elevated water tank, a building you drive past and never enter, open for one last week
Rosa Muñoz's Volver a mirar is set inside the Segundo Depósito Elevado at Plaza de Castilla, which is normally closed and has been exceptionally open to the public since April. It marks 175 years of Canal de Isabel II and 25 years of Fundación Canal, and it reinterprets the tank's architecture through video.
The Edit Move
Look up before you look at the screens. The structure of the tank is the other half of the piece. On Wednesdays it closes at 15:00, so don't leave it to the afternoon.
For who it is
Anyone curious about the insides of the city's working buildings.
For who it is not
Anyone wanting a full exhibition. It's a single installation.
PHOTOGRAPHY
THE EVENT: Uneasy Riders. La ciudad en ruta
WHERE: Museo Nacional de Antropología, Calle de Alfonso XII 68
WHEN: Closes Sunday 25 October. Sundays 10:00 to 15:00
PRICE: Free
The people who bring your dinner, photographed and taken as seriously as the rest of the collection
A photographic exhibition about the city's delivery riders, curated by Montserrat Cañedo Rodríguez (UNED) and Diego Allen-Perkins (USC), shown in a museum better known for its older ethnographic collections.
The Edit Move
Pair it with the museum's permanent halls. The present day next to the nineteenth century is the point of the show.
For who it is
Anyone who has opened the door to a rider and never asked their name.
For who it is not
Anyone looking for a big collection of objects.
PHOTOGRAPHY
THE EVENT: Robert Frank & Los Americanos
WHERE: Espacio Fundación Telefónica, Calle de Fuencarral 3
WHEN: Until 1 November. Tuesday to Friday 10:00 to 20:00, Saturday, Sunday and holidays 11:00 to 20:00
PRICE: Free
The photographer who drove across the United States in the mid-1950s and changed how documentary photography looked
Part of this year's PHotoESPAÑA programme, built around The Americans, the book Frank made on that trip. It's in its final full week.
The Edit Move
Go on a weekday (if you can). The last weekend is when everyone who meant to go all summer turns up.
For who it is
Anyone who cares about photography history and has let this one slip.
For who it is not
Anyone after colour or a light visual browse. This is stark, black and white, and unglamorous by design.
ART
THE EVENT: Thomas Houseago, Esculturas
WHERE: Jardín Banca March, Calle de Castelló 75
WHEN: Until the end of October. Thursdays 19:00 to 23:00, Fridays and Saturdays 12:00 to 19:00
PRICE: Free, with prior booking
Seven monumental sculptures in a bank's private garden, the British sculptor's first showing in Spain, with a week left
Thomas Houseago's work fills the 1,600 square metre garden of Banca March's Madrid headquarters, a space that is normally closed to the public. The show is part of the bank's centenary programme, so read it as that: the garden and the sculptures are the draw.
The Edit Move
Thursday is the late opening, until 23:00, so go at dusk when the garden changes.
For who it is
Anyone who likes sculpture outdoors, off a plinth.
For who it is not
Anyone wary of a bank's anniversary programme. This is one.
ART
THE EVENT: Aqua Mater, Sebastião Salgado
WHERE: Sala Castellana 214, Fundación Canal, Paseo de la Castellana 214
WHEN: Opens Wednesday 28 October. Daily 11:00 to 22:00, closed Tuesdays, last pass 20:30. About 90 minutes
PRICE: 15€ general, 13€ reduced, 13.50€ each in a pack of four, free for children up to 10, and 10% off on spectator days
WEB: salgadoaquamater.com
Sebastião Salgado's first big show since his death, in a former city reservoir
Aqua Mater brings almost a hundred large-format photographs from two series, Aqua Mater and Glaciares, shown together for the first time. The setting is a historic water deposit, and the show is curated by his wife, Lélia Wanick Salgado, as a walk through photography, space and sound. It's part of the Canal's 175th anniversary programme.
The Edit Move
Passes are timed, so buy online to fix your slot rather than trying the box office. If you can, see Volver a mirar first, it closes on Sunday.
For who it is
Anyone who follows Salgado's work and wants to see it in a room that suits it, not a white cube.
For who it is not
Anyone wanting colour or a light subject. Aqua Mater is black and white.
ON THE HORIZON
Depedro presents Furia y Calma at Sala Villanos from 27 to 31 October. Saturday has already sold out and Friday is down to its last tickets.
Suma Flamenca closes with Farruquito on 29 October, Rocío Molina on the 30th and Israel Fernández on 1 November.
El Brujo brings his Lazarillo de Tormes to the Corral Cervantes from 29 October to 1 November.
Seen something in Madrid this week that should have made the list? Reply to [email protected] and tell us. We read everything, and the best tips end up here.
The Edit Madrid is an independent weekly curation of the best things to do in the city. No sponsored content. No filler. Just the things worth your time.
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