🍸The Brief: Weekend Edition
What to do in Madrid and beyond.
By @IanMount and @AdrianBono | March 24, 2023 | Madrid
🎉 Welcome to the first issue of The Tapa The Brief* Weekend Edition! An English-language newsletter about what to do this weekend in Madrid plus a few other pop culture references about Spain.
🇪🇸 If this is the first time you hear about us, you should know we also have a Thursday edition (the serious one), where we cover politics, economy and other stories that make the headlines in Spain each week. Please join the ride and hit the button below to subscribe!
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(* As explained in yesterday’s newsletter, we’re contemplating ditching the name The Tapa and going with The Brief because we’ve gotten contradictory advice about which sounds better. To weigh in on the options, make sure you cast your vote in yesterday’s poll here! )
🍿5 Things to Do in Madrid This Weekend
The spring is finally here, which means we can no longer use Madrid’s arid winter cold as our go-to excuse to avoid people. But fret not, my fellow introvert! This fantastic city is offering some spectacular options this weekend for those in need of adventure and fun.
Here are five of them:
1. Yes, that’s a Balloon Museum
If you like Emily in Paris, then you know what this is. The Pop Air exhibit by the Balloon Museum has landed in Madrid and not only it offers a unique sensorial overload, it is also perfect for getting a bunch of likes on Instagram (because if you didn’t post it on Insta, did you even really go?). The interactive exhibit remains open until July 23. Tickets are €20. Buying them online is recommended. Check their website for dates and availability.
2. Count ‘em: 22,000 flowers
The Casa de México en España is celebrating Spring’s arrival with a massive figurative flower explosion put together with the Taller Jacobo y María Ángeles. The second annual “Bienvenida la primavera” decoration of the building’s facade consists of more than 22,000 flowers arranged to form animals including an 8 meter-tall jaguar and two 5-meter quetzals. The Casa de México always offers great value—indeed the visit is free (as are entradas to the “Women of Lucha Libre” exhibit) . But move fast: flowers die, after all. Guided visits including the interior Calendario Zapoteca run through March 26 (check here for availability). Outdoor flower exposition on public view 24 hours/day until April 2. Bienvenida la primavera 2023 y Calendario Zapoteca, Casa de México en España, C. de Alberto Aguilera, 20, Madrid.
3. The New York City Ballet
One of the world’s top ballet companies is in town this weekend and is bringing three different choreographies: Serenade, Square Dance (both by Russian choreographer George Balanchine) and The Times are Racing (by choreographer Justin Peck). The NYC ballet will be performing only five shows at the Teatro Real so if you’re into bougie stuff, this is your chance. New York City Ballet. Teatro Real, Plaza de Isabel II, s/n. March 23-26. Tickets start at €17. Buy them here.
4. I Am the Monster Speaking
In 2019, transgender philosopher Paul B. Preciado was invited to speak in front of 3,500 psychoanalysts at the École de la Cause Freudienne's annual conference in Paris. Standing in front of the profession for whom he is a “mentally ill person” suffering from “gender dysphoria”, he gave a lecture inspired by Kafka’s “Report to an academy”, in which a monkey learns to communicate with a group of scientists. He was booed off the stage before he could finish. In this dramatized version of his speech being presented in Madrid, Preciado criticizes the psychiatric community for its “structural violence” against the LGBTQ+ community. Yo Soy el Monstruo Que Os Habla, Centro Cultural Conde Duque, Conde Duque 11. Madrid. March 24-25, 8 pm, March 26, 7 pm. Tickets: €18.
5. Matadero Madrid’s International Festival of Literature
I know, actual paper books! So retro. If you’re into them (and independent screenings, live conversations/interviews with local authors) then the second edition of Capítulo 1, Matadero’s International Festival of Literature, is up your alley. This year’s edition seeks to “vindicate literature as a compass in times of uncertainty”. Yes, it’s not as exciting as the balloon museum but it’s still pretty stimulating for the brain. Capítulo 1, Matadero Arts Center, Plaza de Legazpi 8, Through March 26. Tickets start at €3,50.
🎙Headlines of the week
These are some of the most ridiculous stories in Spain this week that didn’t make our Thursday edition but we felt deserved a (dis)honorable mention today
💃🏻 Midjourney turned its image-generating A.I. on Spain, creating images of each autonomous community as if it were a woman. They were all young, striking and traditionally beautiful—except one. And let’s just say, Galicia is not pleased.
👩🏼🌾 Georgina Rodríguez would like you to know that she works very hard. “Another wonderful day at work. So that later they say that the rich do not work,” Cristiano Ronaldo’s better half wrote in an Instagram post showing her carrying a coffee cup and a very expensive bag. She was immediately trolled by twitterati for claiming to work. But she’ll be okay: the second season of her reality, “Soy Georgina” drops on Netflix today, March 24.
🇪🇸 Super Spain Man is back! Larry Shy, the Michigan man with the Corte Inglés tattoo we profiled a bit back has a new Instagram reel out on El Español, where he sings the praises of Mercadona—and shows off a new Mercadona tattoo! In the words of Larry, “All this beautiful mancheso cheese. Ay me gusta. Oh my god!”
🖕Castilla y León boss Alfonso Fernández Mañueco made a gesture. When a PSOE representative complained that Mañueco was having a chat while she was trying to present an initiative to give aid to lactose intolerant people, he left the room making a decidedly bird-like gesture. But not that bird, he said in later interviews: it was, you see, an “involuntary act”.
🎼 Coming Up: Primavera Sound 2023
Tickets for the Primavera Sound 2023 (in Barcelona and Madrid!) are still for sale so if you’re thinking of going you better get some pronto.
The Barcelona edition runs from May 31 to June 4 and the Madrid edition will take place June 7 - 11. Both feature hot artists new and old from Rosalía and the Pet Shop Boys to Kendrick Lamar, Depeche Mode, Måneskin, Calvin Harris and many others (some we’ve never heard of before but they are probably alright). Click here to buy your tickets while they last! Day tickets start at €125.
(By the way, this is not an ad. We just think it’s a great event. I mean, we wish it was an ad. We looked for an affiliate marketing link, but no luck. Primavera probably pays a lot of money for ads. Hmmm…revenue. Maybe something to think about for next year? #Goals.)
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We’ll be back next week with more.