The Madrid Multimedia Art & Design (MMMAD) festival will take over the Spanish capital from April 16 to 26 at various locations throughout the city. The spirit of the MMMAD Urban Digital Art Festival in Madrid, as it is colloquially known, is discovery: walking down the street and stumbling upon a work of contemporary art on a screen that would normally be advertising just about anything. Not this time. More than 400 urban screens will be transformed into digital canvases.
For this edition, the MMMAD presents the following thematic concept Terms of Use, which, in addition to being a phrase found in any purchase agreement, refers “not only to the normative, technical, and symbolic frameworks that govern our relationship with technology, but also to the material, historical, and environmental conditions that determine how we live, move, and participate in space,” explains the press release the festival distributed—digitally, of course—to explain what the event is all about in this, its cabalistic seventh edition.
MMMAD Festival 2026 in Madrid: Creative Futurism
Since 2020, when the first event took place, a lot has changed in the digital world. Today, artificial intelligence is also casting its futuristic uncertainty over the creative world. There are several examples of artists who have successfully navigated this terrain (such as the Chilean artist Alfacenttauri), and now, the MMMAD is committed to revisiting the past—such as colonialism, the control of people, the remnants of the past, and changes in nature—and what continues to influence the present, all at the same time, much like the film *Everything Everywhere All at Once*.
Although relatively young, the festival has gone from being an urban experiment to becoming a major player on the European circuit in just a few years. It has garnered collaborations, sponsorships, and institutional recognition, yes, but without completely losing sight of that interventionist ethos: taking spaces designed to sell you products you may not even need and using them to provoke a reaction through a work of art. Something like an advertiser’s nightmare—a space that doesn’t want to sell you toothpaste.
This time, the event seeks to create immersive experiences by bridging the gap between the artwork and the audience. This is not a contemplative affair; we’ve had enough of viewing things from a distance during the recent pandemic—the very context in which MMMADwas born —and now, perhaps with a spirit of revenge, as a way to get back at the museum staff who told us we weren’t allowed to touch—just like in the ’80s song “Las manos quietas”—the pieces “are inhabited and negotiated physically, creating a field of shared, critical, and situated experience,” say the organizers.
MMMAD Festival 2026 in Madrid: the artists
The curatorial selection brings together names that are already making a strong impact in the world of contemporary experimental art. From Spain: Candela Capitán, Carles Castaño Oliveros, and Parafeno, working across video, real-time 3D, and artificial intelligence. They are joined by artists from various regions: Marika Hedemyr (SE), Paloma Madrid (CL) + Vicky Leaks (ES), Sau-Ching Wong (CN), Santiago Colombo (AR), Tadej Droljc (SL), and Túlio Rosa (BR).
Another artist worth mentioning is Robert B. Lisek, a Polish artist , mathematician, and composer who focuses on computational, biological, and social systems, networks, and processes.
The program takes place across urban screens, theaters, gardens, and even a cemetery. Because, of course: if you’re going to talk about technology, you also have to talk about what’s left behind.
Schedule:
Open Call
Feb. 17 – Mar. 17
Digital Art in the City (Clear Channel)
Exhibitions
April 16–26
Open Call on urban screens
Límite, Parafeno, on urban screens
Domada, Candela Capitán, at Navesierra
DPA, Santiago Colombo, at HYPER HOUSE
Performances
April 16, 7:00 p.m. — DPA, Santiago Colombo (HYPER HOUSE)
April 17, 7:00 p.m. — H(a)unting Songs, Túlio Rosa (Réplika Teatro)
April 17, 9 p.m. — Osmotic Bodies, Tadej Droljc (Réplika Teatro)
April 18, 7 p.m. — Neuroprison, Robert B. Lisek (Réplika Teatro)
April 19, 7 p.m. — <( [“Á”1653 “gora” · L· 23035] )>, Carles Castaño (Réplika Teatro)
April 23, 7 p.m. — Domada, Candela Capitán (Navesierra)
April 24, 7 p.m. — Light In The Dark, Paloma Madrid and Vicky Leaks (garden)
April 25, 12 p.m. — Ashes To Ashes, Marika Hedemyr (La Almudena Cemetery)
Professional events
April 20, 21, and 22, 7:00 p.m. — IED Madrid Design District
More info: https://mmmad.art/
MMMAD is a once-a-year event. It’s the perfect opportunity to take the algorithm out for some fresh air and discover different contemporary artists in a street-based format that takes Madrid and the world of contemporary art and performance by storm, exploring their intersections with new technologies.
