illycaffè, partner of ARCOmadrid, presents the illy Art Collection signed by Pascale Marthine Tayou and the 16th edition of illy SustainArt Award

The illy lounge will showcase two artworks made by Tayou along with the cups and cans signed by the international renowned artist

The winner of illy SustainArt Award, aimed to boost the career of young emerging artists at the international level, will be announced on February 23rd

Madrid, February 22nd, 2023 – For 18 years illycaffè has been the official partner of ARCOmadrid, the contemporary art fair to be held in the Spanish capital from February 22nd to 26th, 2023. At 2023 edition, the company will present the new illy Art Collection signed by the internationally renowned artist Pascale Marthine Tayou and the 16th edition of illy SustainArt Award.

“We are proud to be partners of ARCOmadrid, one of the leading international contemporary art fairs, which we have collaborated with very successfully since 2005 in order to explore the new frontiers of creativity” says Carlo Bach, illycaffè’s artistic director.

illy Art Collection signed by Pascale Marthine Tayou
At ARCOmadrid illycaffè will be presenting the new illy Art Collection and the matched can signed by the artist Pascale Marthine Tayou. Through this illy Art Collection, the artist chose a color palette that recalls African landscapes: the stylized mask leaning against a tree whose branches bear eggs growing on them symbolizing birth and creation, pondering at the same time the great issues of our time: conflicts, environmental sustainability, globalization, and immigration.

At the illy lounge, located in Booth 7B36 in Hall 7 of IFEMA MADRID, art lovers and exhibitors will be able to discover the new illy Art Collection signed by Pascale Marthine Tayou and plunge themselves in an environment in which beauty and goodness blend together, ensconced in the sophisticated design that references the signature style of the work of the artist and the aroma of illy’s unique blend.

The illy lounge will be enriched by two artworks made by Pascale Marthine Tayou: the painting Chalk’s Frescoes and the glass sculpture Pascale’s dolls.

Chalk’s Frescoes
Since 2008, Pascale Marthine Tayou uses chalkboards or chalk sticks in his works. For the artist it is about objects that have a symbolic value related to the formation. An education that should direct us and guide us in our destiny. Sometimes the notions learned can paralyze us and prevent us from choosing other ways. Rather than using chalk sticks to write “Knowledge”, as it happens at school, Pascale Marthine Tayou uses this material to assemble potential “knowledge”. He therefore uses the chalk stick as a constructive element of the work, aware that there is not only a written message but a multitude of encounters and possibilities.

Poupées Pascale
The Poupées Pascale (Pascale’s dolls) are glass sculptures covered in a multiplicity of different materials: coffee and chocolate powder, textile threads, plant fibres, rag animals, bone pendants, stones, feathers and coloured straws, pearls, eggs and chalk.

The nature and provenance of these materials varies widely, combining craftsmanship and industrial production, rural and urban contexts, tradition and progress. Pieced together, overlapping, mixed up without any apparent criteria beyond a casual and abundant heterogeneity, their function seems to hang in the balance between the purely decorative (and therefore accessory) and the fundamental (the inalienable) as a characterization element.

Pascale Marthine Tayou began this series of works in 2005 and has continued making them ever since. He was initially inspired during a trip to Venice, when the artist saw a Murano glass vase that at first glance he mistook for an African tribal sculpture. Les Poupées are a perfect example of the process of creolization identified and theorized by Édouard Glissant, a process which has permeated much of contemporary society, a “mixing up of arts and languages that produces the unexpected […], a space in which dispersal allows for rapprochements, in which cultural shocks, disharmonies, disorder and interference become creative forces.

New edition of illySustain award to support new artists
On February 23rd at 4.30pm the winner of illySustainArt will be announced at the illy lounge. This award for emerging artists was created by illycaffè in collaboration with ARCOmadrid and now in its 16th edition. Previously received by artists such as Ana Navas, Felipe Cohen, Hellen Ascoli or Marcelo Cidade, this prize is aimed to boost the career of young creators at the international level.

In this occasion, the award will recognize the work of one of the artists under 40 years old of any nationality, whose artwork is exhibited at the fair. The jury members for the 16th edition of the prize will be Patrizia Sandretto (Curator and founder of Fondazione Sandretto Re Rebaudengo), Tania Pardo (Deputy Director of the CA2M Museum, Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo), Ianko López (Journalist of Vanity Fair and specialized in visual art) and Carlo Bach (Art Director at illycaffè). The prize consists of a €15,000 cash prize, for the artist to produce an artwork that will be unveiled at the illy lounge during ARCOmadrid 2024.

Visitors will also be able to enjoy an illy espresso at the “Nonsolocaffè”, located at Booth 9C28 in Hall 9 of IFEMA MADRID.


illy and contemporary art - illy art collection
illy is a global coffee brand founded in Trieste in 1933 and recognized for its sustainable quality and for its role as a key partner for contemporary art for more than 30 years. The Italian company has transformed an everyday object, such as the white espresso cup, into one of the most complete – and accessible to all - collections of art objects in the world.

The search for, discovery, and enhancement of beauty and that which is new are distinctive characteristics of illy’s corporate culture. In order to make the most of them, the Trieste-based company is collaborating with the main global contemporary art fairs and with leading Spanish art institutions, such as ARCOmadrid, Museo Reina Sofía, the Thyssen-Bornemizsa Foundation, Círculo de Bellas Artes, Guggenheim Bilbao, MACBA and the Barcelona Museum of Design.
For illycaffè, whose distinctive values are Good, Goodness, Beauty, contemporary art adds beauty to taste. The beauty illycaffè strives to achieve is inspired by the ancient Greek concept of kalokagathìa, which combines kalòs (that which is beautiful) and agathòs (that which is good) to create a new meaning in which beauty and goodness become one, each depending on the other.

The illy Art Collection cups are a tangible expression of this concept. This project was launched in 1992, and through it the company transformed an everyday object into a blank canvas by inviting contemporary artists to express their creativity on the espresso cup that Matteo Thun designed for illy. Over the years, this canvas has featured the work of over 100 internationally renowned artists, including Michelangelo Pistoletto, Marina Abramović, Anish Kapoor, James Rosenquist, William Kentridge, Yoko Ono, Mona Hatoum, Robert Wilson, Ai Weiwei and others…

Coffee lovers sipping an illy espresso from a cup designed by an artist combine the aroma and flavour of the illy blend with a complete aesthetic, visual, and tactile experience, entering into a relationship with contemporary art.