Carabanchel, a neighbourhood with a lot of art

Carabanchel, un barrio con mucho arte - Arteaga Usted

Carabanchel, un barrio con mucho arte - Ey! Studio

Carabanchel, un barrio con mucho arte - Juana González

Carabanchel, un barrio con mucho arte - U Studio

Carabanchel, un barrio con mucho arte - Urg3l

The ISO industrial estate has become a hub to attract young artists who are expressing their creativity in numerous spaces and workshops. Carabanchel is said to be the Soho of Madrid. The neighbourhood has gone from being a working class area on the outskirts of Madrid to becoming the centre of a large creative and bohemian movement that now boasts more than 130 artists in around 40 studios, workshops and creative spaces.

What was an industrial area just a few years ago, where print works, dental cooperatives, textile manufacturers and “isocarros” factories coexisted, has become an artistic melting pot of young creators who are looking for an area on the outskirts of the city to develop their art.

There are up and coming artists devoted to illustration, crafts, sculptures, photography, music, video-art or graphic art and there are some consolidated names, such as José Luis Serzo, Miki Leal, Patricia Mateo or Laura Lío, some of whom have exhibited at the ARCO Madrid fair, which has brought together the artistic explosion of this area of Carabanchel.

They all work in the San Isidro neighbourhood, more specifically in the vicinity of Number 25 Calle de Pedro Díez, where there is a brick building where art abounds today and it is where parts of the legendary “isocarro”, a small, three-wheeler van that is historic today, used to be produced.

After passing the threshold of this old property, visitors can see that there is a rich artistic pursuit concentrated in this building, located in the most populated district in Madrid (with a census of 270,000 residents).

Vitality and Innovation

It is an example of the vitality and innovation of a popular district in the south of Madrid which has become popular in recent years thanks to Manolito Gafotas, the famous literary character created by Elvira Lindo which went from the printed word to films, as well as its famous prison that has now disappeared.

Carabanchel has earned points on Madrid’s cultural ranking thanks to the spontaneous initiative by these artists who give it their all with their creative capacity and have produced a knock-on effect with their peers.

At Nave Oporto, located in the San Isidro neighbourhood, artists like Irma Álvarez-Laviada, Belén, Fod, Santiago Giralda, Miki Leal, Sonia Navarro, Toni Ramón, Manuel Saro and Miguel Ángel Tornero are all working. They all work on the second floor and have shared their artistic concerns since 2013. The first floor is home to Mala Fama Estudios and a group of artists are also working here, among whom Carlos Aires stands out.

Next to Oporto Metro

Attracted by the artistic activity in the building in Calle de Pedro Díez, other creators, in addition to galleries and painting academies, have set up business in the surrounding area and there are more than 20 studios in buildings scattered around the neighbourhood. They are all close to Oporto metro, such as those at Number 38, Calle de Nicolás Morales, at Number 8, Calle de Martín B. Hernández or at Number 21, Calle de Pedro Díez.

The clout of these young artists is such that there are also small restaurants, social centres, exhibition halls, music recording studios, etc. and their influence has spread to Urgel metro station, around Calle de Eugenia de Montijo and Calle Nuestra Señora de Fátima.

This is the case of Fábrica D’Arte, a mural painting academy located in a former textile factory at Number 4, Calle de la Codorniz in the Vista Alegre neighbourhood; the Benveniste Contemporary Gallery in San Isidro neighbourhood or the Arte Hélade academy (Nuestra Señora de Fátima, 91).

It must be highlighted that Carabanchel also has many rehearsal rooms for pop-rock groups, some well-known establishment in Madrid’s night-life and cafeterias and restaurants catering for this community of artists. La Fábrica de Patanel beer garden or Matilda Bar Butacada are just some examples.

One of the latest places is Hyper House, a new creative space on the emerging digital art scene in Madrid. It is a meeting point and place for debate open to collaboration on extended and experimental artistic practices.

“Art/Banchel” Annual Programme

There are so many artists concentrated in the neighbourhood that in the annual “Art/Banchel” initiative was introduced in 2017, which is an obvious nod to the prestigious Basilea Art Basel Fair with open doors activities so that local residents can see their work. The varied proposals are always in the month of May. There are exhibitions, talks, presentations, dance, performances, theatre, radio, etc. It is said that it is as if Calle del Doctor Fourquet in Madrid had been moved to Carabanchel.

La Chulapa de Carabanchel

There is a mural devoted to the figure of La Chulapa, work of the Cuban artist resident in New York, Jorge Rodríguez-Gerada, on the tower of the former water deposit for the Tercio and Terol colony, in Calle Amalrico. It is an impressive, large scale mural that portrays the face of a Chalupa with a red carnation and her head wrapped in a white scarf, arising from its foundations. It was painted during the San Isidro festivities and has become a symbol of the neighbourhood that defends traditions.