The summer will only be remembered when the month of October arrives. But the plans that Madrid is preparing for this fall keep body and mind busy. The boom of the new season of exhibitions, concerts and festivals … and the nights of Madrid, those that never end. Grab a pencil and make a note.
Table Of Contents
- Oktoberfest at Autocine Madrid (October 12)
- The Berlin Wall. A World Divided (all month)
- The best concerts in Madrid this October (all month)
- Sorolla, one hundred years of modernity (mid-October)
- Mírame, by Livianas Provincianas (from Oct. 10)
- Intellectual rebelliousness that overflows the margins (all month)
- The inverted tower. The tarot as form and symbol (from October 10th)
- Matadero Centennial
- Joan of Arc ( from Oct. 3)
- Autumn Fair of the Old and Antique Book of Madrid (until October 13)
- Tabita Rezaire. Nebulosa de la calabaza (from October 7).
- The Harry Potter exhibition (from October 4th)
- The Stars' Share (from October 11th)
- Free concerts for the Día de la Hispanidad (Columbus Day)
- Transhumance Festival (October 20)
- She Makes Noise (October 15 to 20)
- Wednesday cinema at Conde Duque (every Wednesday).
- Altar of the Dead (starting October 2)
- Escape to Segovia for the 550th anniversary of the Proclamation of Isabella the Catholic.
- José María García de Paredes. Meeting places (from October 2nd)
- Bloc Party Arganzuela (October 19)
- The workshop of Rubens (from October 15)
- Masaveu Collection. Spanish art of the 20th century. From Picasso to Barceló (as of October 9).
- Madrid Cocktail Week (October 19 to 27)
- Caprile Lorenzo (starting on October 16).
- Tapapiés (from October 17 to 27)
Oktoberfest at Autocine Madrid (October 12)
11 hours non stop to celebrate the god of barley, with laughter, pretzels, sausages and lots of music. Autocine Madrid will be the scene, one more year, of this Teutonic party in honor of beer but also of German gastronomy and a way of life. It will be on October 12 (no excuses, sidereal holiday) and will feature live music performances and different DJs to keep you dancing.
📍Calle de la Isla de Java, 2 (Fuencarral-El Pardo)
The Berlin Wall. A World Divided (all month)
Madrid welcomes during this year 20 meters of the Berlin Wall (a score of meters more than it already had, and that can be seen in the Berlin Park). The Berlin Wall. A World Divided is an exhibition that, in addition to planting this compendium of cement and mortar that divided a country and mentally an entire planet, reflects on the division, borders, separation.
More than 300 objects and testimonies help to outline life on both sides of the wall; also, to reflect on the concept of nation, country, citizen?
Castellana 214 Hall (Canal Foundation)
The best concerts in Madrid this October (all month)
Madrid is a city of music, of party, of night. That is so. And to prove it, a great line-up for this October with great international and national artists, as well as emerging stars. Our bet, looks like this:
- October 2nd, Fat Dog at Sala Sol. They come to present their debut album WOOF, which the band’s leader defines as “music to scream against a pillow”. Of course, the London band knows how to put on a good raging party with a live show that has already caught the attention of music critics. A great concert is coming, don’t miss them.
- October 5, La Pegatina at the WiZink Center.
- October 8 at the Copernicus, the trap by Billy Woods
- October 8, St. Vincent at La Riviera.
- October 12, the one-day festival Music Bank World Tour, i.e. eight K-Pop bands (such as Enhypen or BoyNextDoor) at the Santiago Bernabéu.
- October 25, one of the concerts of the year at the WiZink Center: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
Different venues and arenas. Here is the complete list.
Sorolla, one hundred years of modernity (mid-October)
The Sorolla Museum will close its doors at the beginning of this month to undergo an ambitious rehabilitation and expansion of its current museum area. It is estimated that it will not reopen its doors until 2026. But the people of Madrid will be able to enjoy the works of the Valencian artist in an exhibition that marks the closing of the commemoration of the centenary of his death.
Sorolla, one hundred years of modernity, is an exhibition that will be hosted by the Royal Collections Gallery and will bring together 77 works by the painter, from the most renowned to those that have rarely been seen on display.
Calle de Bailén s/n (Palace)
Mírame, by Livianas Provincianas (from Oct. 10)
La Reme and La Berta have made it, they have taken the big leap: from their sewing workshop in Tribulete street, going through that phase of singing cuplés on demand, to being the cover (and why not, fold-out) of Interviú. They are no longer cupletistas: they are divas, they are VEDETTES.
The new show of Livianas Provincianas, Mírame, returns to the Luchana Theaters during the month of October and until November 28. A show full of recognized songs, some of them with the “livianer touch”, and a reflection on fame, as raw as necessary without abandoning the laughter and laughter.
📍 Calle de Luchana, 38 (Chamberí)
Intellectual rebelliousness that overflows the margins (all month)
A monographic exhibition of the artist Paz Muro, free-thinker and creator always with a feminist approach and vindication who was awarded the Medal of Fine Arts. Muro’s work was key in the 70’s and 80’s, as an element of rupture and change through performance and conceptual installation.
His goal was always to denounce the abuse and neglect of women during the Franco dictatorship. Now, this exhibition aims to do justice, to make her visible, to remember her: “to resolve the tension between her figure and the absence of recognition within the art system”.
📍 Calle de Antonio Nebrija, S / N (Retiro)
The inverted tower. The tarot as form and symbol (from October 10th)
The tarot is no longer just the tarot: it is the artistic dimension of the cards, but also the imaginary hidden behind them, the magic of interpretation, subjective visions, utopian ideas, “becoming a resource that artists use to think about alternative futures, questioning rational thought and as a tool for self-awareness.”
And this so complex that encompasses the deepest part of our being (longings, fears, concerns) is what explains art and what it is called to create. The new exhibition at the Casa Encendida, articulates a discourse around all this with works by Frédéric Bruly Bouabré, Johanna Dumet, Dorothy Iannone, King Khan and Michael Eaton, Raúl de Nieves, Plastique Fantastique, Betye Saar, Niki de Saint Phalle, Suzanne Treister, Aldo Urbano, Agnès Varda and Andy Warhol.
📍 Casa Encendida (Ronda de Valencia, 2)
Matadero Centennial
In October 1924, Madrid opened the doors of its municipal slaughterhouse designed by architect Luis Bellido. This heritage site turns 100 years old, a century of history, converted into a Contemporary Creation Center of the Madrid City Council.
Among the different proposals to celebrate the anniversary, on October 17, 18, 19 and 20, guided tours (lasting an hour and a half) will be organized to learn not only about the history but also the incredible details of its neo-Mudejar industrial architecture and the different adaptations that were made over the years.
The exhibition Focus Taiwan ( until the 13th). In addition, there will be workshops by the Total Refusal collective on the dynamics of video games and their contradictions in today’s world. Cineteca, on the other hand, starts the cycle The tropical utopia: five Latin American countries, with committed films from this continent.
📍 Paseo de la Chopera, 14 (Arganzuela)
Joan of Arc ( from Oct. 3)
Playwright Marta Pazos directs Joan of Arc, a play performed by a cast of seven women who, with a mystical, poetic language, reflect on the figure of Joan of Arc. A woman united to the spiritual in a radical way who manages to free the city of Orleans from the English siege… and who ends up being a victim of her own prowess.
📍 Paseo de la Chopera, 14 (Arganzuela)
Autumn Fair of the Old and Antique Book of Madrid (until October 13)
A classic autumn event that has been serving the “oldest, oldest” and proudest titles of national and international literature for 34 years. On the Paseo de Recoletos there are booths that house the collection of 32 specialized bookstores and a total of more than half a million books.LIBRIS, the Association of Old Booksellers, organizes this fair in collaboration with the Madrid City Council.
📍 Paseo de Recoletos (Downtown)
Tabita Rezaire. Nebulosa de la calabaza (from October 7).
Madrid hosts the first monographic exhibition of the artist Tabita Rezaire in our country. A contemporary art show composed of three immersive installations, an area in which this artist from French Guiana specializes. Through video art, the construction of these immersive spaces and performance, we will enter Rezaire’s world. On this occasion, two of the three rooms are dedicated to Yemoja, an orisha considered the mother of rivers and oceans.
📍 Paseo del Prado, 8 (Cortes/Centro)
The Harry Potter exhibition (from October 4th)
Maggie Smith (unforgettable Minerva McGonagall) has just left us. This news has prompted fans of the saga to return to the Harry Potter books and films. From October, the people of Madrid will also be able to enter the world of Hogwarts, Diagon Alley and many other mythical settings, in an exhibition that brings together original costumes and props from the films. It also includes immersive experiences with recreations of scenes and environments that are already part of our collective imagination.
📍Espacio Ibercaja Delicias (Paseo de las Delicias, 61, Madrid. Access from the side of the Railway Museum of Madrid).
The Stars’ Share (from October 11th)
The Fernán Gómez. Centro Cultural de la Villa hosts the exhibition The Stars’ Share, a compendium of 60 black-and-white photographs by Swiss photographer Gérard-Philippe Mabillard. These are portraits of great personalities from the world of the arts (cinema, music, photography, art, design…) including Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, Benicio del Toro, Clint Eastwood, Antonio de la Torre, Daniel Brühl, Alba Flores, Willem Dafoe, Beth Ditto…
📍 Plaza de Colón, 4 (Salamanca neighborhood)
Free concerts for the Día de la Hispanidad (Columbus Day)
Sen Senra, Ralphie Choo (in the eye of the storm for his recently announced collaboration with Rosalía), Javier Mena or Valeria Castro, are some of the artists who will perform, free of charge, to celebrate Columbus Day in Madrid. The city will have different stages scattered around the map (King’s Bridge in Madrid Río, Plaza Mayor, Puerta de Alcalá, Puerta del Sol, Matadero and Callao) so that the music never stops playing. You can access the complete calendar here.
📍 Various locations.
Transhumance Festival (October 20)
As every autumn, direct from Cervera de Pisuerga, the sheep and goats of La Fiesta de la Trashumancia in October will walk through Madrid. Up to 1,000 Merino sheep and 100 Retinta goats will walk through the capital this year to vindicate the importance that shepherding had (and still has) in Spain.
The route does not usually change: from Casa de Campo, they walk along Calle Mayor (along the cuesta de la Vega) to Puerta del Sol and Cibeles. Here is where the greeting to the representatives of the City Council and the traditional delivery of 50 maravedíes for every thousand goats and sheep that cross the city takes place. This is what the shepherds had to pay in the past for using the paths of the Villa de Madrid.
📍 Casa de Campo, Calle Mayor, Puerta del Sol, Cibeles, Recoletos, Colón and back to Casa de Campo.
She Makes Noise (October 15 to 20)
The tenth edition of one of the most avant-garde festivals of the city returns to La Casa Encendida to bring together the great creators of the moment. A space to showcase and invite you to discover the work of women and non-binary identities in electronic music. As a philosophy of this decade of avant-garde, “the love for electronic music and those who have made the festival possible during these years”.
Therefore, the lineup of this 2024 is loaded with references who participated and left their mark on She Makes Noise and Madrid, as Deena Abdelwahed and Mursego. In addition, the lineup is completed with the international proposal as Xexa, bela and the duo formed by Laura Robles & Ale Hop; as well as the only performance in Spain of the performer Gazelle Twin with her show Black Dog. And 33EMYBW will close the festival with an immersive show with the digital art of Joey Holder.
📍 Casa Encendida (Ronda de Valencia, 2)
Wednesday cinema at Conde Duque (every Wednesday).
The Centro de Cultura Contemporánea Condeduque restarts its film series this month. It does so with films such as Las chicas están bien ( by Itsaso Arana) or the documentary No Other Land. For this edition, the films have been chosen “giving the seventh art the role of narrator and witness of everything that surrounds us and moves us every day”.
📍 Calle del Conde Duque 9-11 (Conde Duque)
Altar of the Dead (starting October 2)
For the sixth consecutive year, La Casa de México prepares to celebrate its most special date with a unique installation. The Mega Altar of the Dead will be open to the public from October 2 to November 10.
This Mexican custom is a fundamental element in the set of Day of the Dead traditions, which consists of installing domestic altars in honor of those who are no longer with us. Casa de México honors this tradition by dressing the entrance and façade of the building with decorations, flowers and decorative lighting.
📍Calle de Alberto Aguilera, 5.
Escape to Segovia for the 550th anniversary of the Proclamation of Isabella the Catholic.
On December 13, 1474, Isabella the Catholic was crowned in the church of San Miguel in Segovia. 550 years later, the city dresses up and organizes activities (up to and including December) for all audiences in honor of her reign and this liminal event that changed the course of Spanish history.
The month of October starts with the official presentation of the commemoration (on the 4th). And around this date several actions will take place throughout the city: the mural painting by artist José Luis Saura will be exhibited in the music pavilion of the Plaza Mayor from 4 to 6; there will be free medieval dance workshops and a recreation of a medieval quicksilver for several days in various parts of the historic center; a video mapping show on the east facade of the Alcazar on the 4th, a tasting of food of the time (2 €), dramatized walks…
📍Various locations in Segovia
José María García de Paredes. Meeting places (from October 2nd)
The ICO Museum presents a monographic exhibition of the man known as the “architect of auditoriums”, that is, José María García de Paredes. An exhibition that is the commemoration of the centenary of his birth. García de Paredes is considered one of the most important architects of the second half of the 20th century and will analyze not only the work of the master, but also his influence and relevance in other architects and architectural firms and his love for music (not in vain, he designed several of the great Spanish auditoriums, such as the National Auditorium or the Palau de la Música in Barcelona).
Calle de Zorrilla, 3 (Centro)
Bloc Party Arganzuela (October 19)
We know the day, we know the location and we also know that this one-day festival is hilarious, a must. The third edition of Bloc Party Arganzuela promises “surprises” and a tremendous line-up: the Galicians Bala, Automatic lovers, Mohama Saz, Nuevo Catecismo Católico, Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs and Wyldlife. What is this one-day festival all about? It’s a sidereal sum: live music, food + drink,“with no other pretensions than the enjoyment itself“, in the words of the organization itself.
Multipurpose esplanade of Madrid Río – Explanada Negra (Arganzuela)
The workshop of Rubens (from October 15)
The Prado’s new exhibition leaves Rubens’ work to investigate what happened in his workshop, who passed through it as apprentices and assistants, what mark Rubens left on them and vice versa. Referring to the workshop in Antwerp where Rubens developed his prolific artistic career (one with more than 1500 works), the exhibition will also feature a recreation of this workshop with objects of the time, as well as twenty paintings, two drawings and five engravings.
Calle Ruiz de Alarcón 23 (Jerónimos)
Masaveu Collection. Spanish art of the 20th century. From Picasso to Barceló (as of October 9).
An ambitious tour through the artistic icons of the last century. This is the aim of the new exhibition of the María Cristina Masaveu Peterson Foundation. More than a hundred paintings among which we will find works by Salvador Dalí, Joan Miró, Sorolla, Pablo Picasso, Carmen Laffón, Soledad Sevilla, Cristina Iglesias… The aim is to show works not so recognized by the general public, to observe the rarities of the time.
Calle de Alcalá Galiano, 6 (Chamberí)
Madrid Cocktail Week (October 19 to 27)
Back to school, that tedious return to routine, is broken every September in the city with Madrid Cocktail Week, which is nothing more than an excuse to meet the best bartenders and cocktail makers in the city from bar to hotel, from hotel to bar. The best bars in the capital get ready to shake the cocktail shaker and present the best prepared classic cocktails or the most innovative new ones. Prepare your agendas.
📍 Several locations.
Caprile Lorenzo (starting on October 16).
The Canal de Isabel II Hall will bring together the most iconic designs of the couturier Lorenzo Caprile in an exhibition that is a tribute to the designer’s career. A free exhibition in which “you can learn about the origin of his extensive work, as well as their influences and passions in the world of fashion,” as indicated by the own statement of the Community of Madrid.
📍Santa Engracia Street, 125 (Chamberí)
Tapapiés (from October 17 to 27)
More than 100 bars and restaurants in the neighborhood of Lavapiés will participate in this new edition of Tapapiés. A unique opportunity to taste international dishes and enjoy live concerts throughout the neighborhood. The price of the tapa plus beer or bottle (El Águila beer), will be 3’50€.
📍Various locations