A SPECIAL PLACE
Nowhere else in the world will you find such a burgeoning street art scene than you do in Buenos Aires. Why though? Perhaps it’s to do with a politically involved population. BA is the social and political centre of Argentina so it’s inevitable that political commentaries be played out on the walls of its many streets; in Buenos Aires, there is much to say. Take the Dirty War of 1977, six years of military dictatorship and state-sponsored violence against activists, radicals, students and anyone with remotely left wing views. In 1976, a year before the violence began in earnest, one general made a sinister prediction: “We’re going to have to kill 50,000 people: 25,000 subversives, 20,000 sympathisers, and we will make 5,000 mistakes.” In reality, the number of deaths was nearer 30,000. They were known then, and still are, as ‘The Disappeared’, taken from their homes, their bodies thrown like lifeless sacks into the Rio de la Plata. Their families (mostly the mothers) met every Thursday at the Plaza de Mayo; they became known as Las Madres de Plaza de Mayo, and many still meet today in the hope of being reunited with their children. Around the square itself, images of their white scarves (symbols of their plight) have been painted on the tiles (see above). It’s disturbing stories such as these that inform much of the art you see around you when walking the streets of Buenos Aires.
But not all the street art there is overtly political. DOMA, an Argentine collective of artists who emerged during the now defining year for Argentinean street art, 1998, are not so interested in a turbulent political past as they are in the present, the here and now. Since ‘98, they’ve set out to interfere in all the information channels available to us in today’s media saturated environment (Argentina is widely considered to be the most European city in South America), specialising in motion graphics, animation, filming, VJing and toy design. They move all over the world, intent on studying people’s reactions to their works. After all, what is the point of art if there’s no reaction, no interaction? “We could write a book about reactions,” they say. It’s what interests them most. They put their Giant Dummy (pictured) downtown in Buenos Aires and the way most people reacted to it was, I believe, a little sad, if not entirely predictable. On their way to work, briefcase in one hand, papers in the other, people walked by as if it wasn’t even there. Most didn’t even look at it. Some people, or rather most people, just aren’t interested in anything remotely creative, imaginative or just plain fun. They haven’t the time; there are serious matters to attend to. I often think that about people in this country. People walk the streets with eyes trained on the ground in front of them. They notice nothing, stopping only when pedestrian lights tell them to, on a one man mission to nowhere. Of course, it was the younger generations that fell in love with the Giant Dummy, perhaps the ones who haven’t yet surrendered to the pressure to conform.
I know people living in Buenos Aires at the moment. All I hear is good things, snapshots in my inbox of a place where anything goes, a city regalvanised by its thriving culture, whose city walls are but great canvases to the imagination.
Read about DOMA’s views on corporate sponsorship of street artists and graffiti, their love of Nintendo, their analog appreciation of the world, and recent collaborations with Kidrobot in a great little interview here; and be sure to check their own website here.
And for "trends, innovations and inspirations about Buenos Aires - a true map of the city", this will do the trick.
