The Origin of Magic is an exhibition curated entirely by Year 4 pupils at the CEIP San Miguel Primary School in the UVA neighbourhood of Madrid’s Hortaleza district. It originated within the framework of CoCo, a proposal conceived by CentroCentro and Plataforma Indómita for preparing and developing collaborative curated projects.

Through a work based on dialogue and critical reflection, the aim of the CoCo project is to put creation and cultural management at the service of our citizens, through the conceptualisation, structuring, materialisation of interests, and interaction with the public.

To mark the centenary of the Cibeles Palace, inaugurated in 1919 as the Communications Palace, we asked ourselves: how do we communicate? How do we connect? The answer of these 24 curators invites us to redefine the notion of communication through their own narrative. Their considerations have taken shape following a period of investigation carried out both at CentroCentro and in their school and neighbourhood, always with the constant collaboration of their teachers. 

Based on their day-to-day interests, they have formulated messages in the form of questions, rumours, advertisements, fiction and claims, for example. From there, not only have they decided what they want to say, they have also worked for months on end to reach agreements and to reconstruct their points of view in order to find their own code, their own way of turning those interests into contents that appeal to people they have not yet met. On this journey they have been accompanied by such artists as Ricardo Iglesias, Valeriano López, Fernando Mainer, Raúl Mainer and Radiactivas. They have also had conversations with professionals, such as Rosa Maria Calaf, Pastora Vega and Alfonso Brezmes, among others, to build their section dedicated to thinking, and to certain thoughts.

Thanks to these collaborations, to the unlimited creativity of the entire group, to their ability to work and apply themselves, together with the artist-educators, they have generated inventions to improve coexistence within the family environment; conducted research in their neighbourhood as a way to reflect on the life of the people who live in it and on the environment; legends from the school, as well as views on feminism, teamwork and endangered animal species, among other things. 

All these issues, approached from a questioning of the much-talked-about phenomenon of our society – communication – which, according to the curators, whenever it is present, whenever it really happens, is the origin of the things that really matter. 

We welcome you to The Origin of Magic.

Communication: Transmission of signals through a code that is common to the speaker and the listener. (Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy)
The word ‘communication’ originates from sharing, exchanging, bringing ideas together.
At the same time, it refers to that which is common, that which is public.

Conception of CoCo and organisation: CentroCentro and Plataforma Indómita
Co-Curators: 24 Year 4 students from the CEIP San Miguel Public School, Sofía de Juan, María Matas and Irene Pomar.
Artist-educators: Sofía de Juan, María Matas.
Participating artists: Ricardo Iglesias, Valeriano López, Fernando Mainer, Raúl Mainer, Radiactivas

See the exhibition on Flickr