Medialab Prado

What types of activities are carried out at Medialab-Prado?

Medialab-Prado holds intensive workshops for collaborative project production, training workshops, theoretical seminars, talks, presentations and roundtables, gatherings about experimental music and live audio/video, as well as meetings for research groups and work groups on a variety of subjects. In addition, the Medialab-Prado space is permanently open to the public to consult information related to its ongoing programmes and the projects created in its workshops, with the support of cultural mediators.

What type of space is it?

Medialab-Prado currently has a 120 square metre space, adapted as needed for its workshops, presentations, debates, work groups, and exhibits of the projects created in its programmes.

Not an exhibit space or a technological research centre, it is rather a space for meeting, documentation, research and production where projects and ideas are developed from an experimental, interdisciplinary perspective, aiming to include a variety of types of users in these processes.

Who is it for?

Medialab-Prado’s activities are for everyone, regardless of any professional or specialized background in a given area. Its users are students, professionals and amateurs from a wide range of fields including art, technology, design, engineering, physics, biology, history, sociology, anthropology, education, and communications.

Medialab-Prado serves as a hub among people with different backgrounds and common interests, enabling all types of synergies that often prove the potential and creativity inherent in working together.

What is a cultural mediator?

Cultural mediators work as dynamizers at the Medialab-Prado space. They offer orientation to the public and users, facilitate contact between people and projects linked to Medialab, gather documentation and make information available to users about ongoing programmes and current activities.

When and how was Medialab-Prado created?

Medialab-Prado is a programme of the Madrid City Council’s Arts Area (Área de Las Artes del Ayuntamiento de Madrid). Created initially in 2000 as Medialab Madrid at the Centro Cultural Conde Duque, it moved in September 2007 to its permanent location in the Plaza de las Letras in the lower level of the Antigua Serrería Belga (former Belgian Saw Mill), which is currently under renovation. At that time, its name was changed to Medialab-Prado, a reference to its new location near the Paseo del Prado, close to the Museo Nacional del Prado and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

How can I receive information on activities?

We will send you information via e-mail if you sign up for our weekly bulletin, or through your web search engine if you subscribe to the RSS feed

I don’t live in Madrid. How can I take part in Medialab-Prado’s activities?

Via our Web site, you can keep up to date on the activities and projects being carried out and also see documentation and recordings of presentations and lectures.

Many of our activities are broadcast live via streaming. When this option is available, it is announced on our Web site.

Moreover, throughout the year, several open calls are announced to participate in international project production workshops. For these two-week workshops, Medialab-Prado covers travel and lodging expenses for selected projects and papers. For those who participate as collaborators and do not live in Madrid, lodging is available in shared rooms at a youth hostel.

Can a group visit the space?

Yes, although we suggest you let us know ahead of time so the visit does not coincide with an activity and also to ensure that the cultural mediators can properly attend to the group. For groups fro schools, universities or any other group with an interest in a specific activity, contacting the cultural mediators ahead of time will also make it possible to work with the teacher or educator to adapt the contents and format of the visit to the group. Contact: mediacion [arroba] medialab-prado.es and +34 913 896 644.

How much do the activities cost?

All Medialab-Prado activities are free of charge and open to all. Occasionally, prior registration via our Web site is necessary for certain activities, due to space limitations.

What is Medialab’s approximate annual budget?

Approximately 850,000 euros, including staff and activities.