Reina Sofía Museum opens Eli Cortiñas show in September 2026
Published on 09/27/2026 at 09:06 | Editorial responsibility: Rafael Müller, Editor-in-Chief AD HOC NEWS
The Reina Sofía Museum and Eli Cortiñas’s exhibition The Machine Dreams of Smoke came together in Madrid on 23 September 2026, opening a new presentation in the Sabatini Building. The venue, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, will show the exhibition until 8 March 2027.
The exhibition gives travellers in Spain a current reason to include the museum on a Madrid itinerary during autumn 2026 and winter 2027. Its focus is not a survey of Cortiñas’s entire career, but a new installation built around a work already connected with the collection.
The Machine Dreams of Smoke opened at the Reina Sofía Museum on 23 September
The show is installed in Espacio 1 of the Sabatini Building. It revisits The Most Given of Givens, a three-channel video installation made by Cortiñas in 2016 and recently acquired for the museum’s collections. The work examines how images are produced and how they acquire an appearance of neutrality.
Information published by the Madrid tourism authority describes Cortiñas’s wider investigation as a study of the relationships between cinema history, museums and recent digital culture. The exhibition also addresses the systems that shape the representation of bodies, memories and historical narratives. The authority’s exhibition information places the presentation at the museum from 23 September 2026 to 8 March 2027.
The opening date sits within a wider programme of temporary exhibitions and film activity at the museum. A related cinema series, On Images and Refusal. Carte Blanche to Eli Cortiñas, is listed for 24 September to 3 October 2026, giving the exhibition a programme link beyond its gallery installation.
Why the Sabatini Building matters to the 2026 exhibition
The exhibition’s location is significant for its subject. The Sabatini Building is one of the museum’s two connected buildings, alongside the Nouvel Building, and contains exhibition rooms and parts of the permanent collection. Cortiñas’s installation therefore places a work about images and museum systems inside the institution whose spaces and collections it considers.
The museum’s official visitor information confirms that the main site has access points through both the Sabatini Building and the Nouvel Building. The two structures are connected on each floor, while the Nouvel extension also provides exhibition rooms, public spaces and a covered entrance. The official site information identifies the Sabatini address as Calle Santa Isabel, 52, and the Nouvel entrance as Ronda de Atocha, on the corner of Plaza del Emperador Carlos V.
This arrangement makes the 23 September opening more than a standalone gallery date. The exhibition uses a room in the older part of the museum while the visitor moves through a larger institution formed by historic and modern architecture.
Visiting Reina Sofía Museum: what travellers from Western Europe should know
- The Machine Dreams of Smoke opened on 23 September 2026 and is scheduled to remain in Espacio 1 of the Sabatini Building until 8 March 2027.
- The exhibition is at the museum’s main site in Madrid. The official visitor page lists the site as open every day except Tuesday, with access arrangements varying by activity and building.
- The Sabatini Building is at Calle Santa Isabel, 52. The Nouvel Building is on Ronda de Atocha at Plaza del Emperador Carlos V, and its covered entrance is useful in wet or sunny weather.
- Metro Line 1 serves Estación del Arte, while Line 3 serves Lavapiés. Madrid-Atocha railway station is also close to the museum.
- The museum’s two buildings are connected on each floor, and the official visitor information notes lifts, lockers and rest areas within the complex.
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Frequently asked questions about Reina Sofía Museum
When did The Machine Dreams of Smoke open at the Reina Sofía Museum?
The exhibition opened on 23 September 2026 in Espacio 1 of the Sabatini Building and is scheduled to continue until 8 March 2027.
What is The Machine Dreams of Smoke about?
It revisits Eli Cortiñas’s 2016 three-channel video installation The Most Given of Givens and examines how cinema, museums and digital culture shape visual narratives.
Where is the Reina Sofía Museum and how do you get there?
The main site is in Madrid at Calle Santa Isabel, 52, with another entrance on Ronda de Atocha. Metro Line 1 stops at Estación del Arte and Line 3 at Lavapiés, while Atocha is the nearby railway station.
