Buenos Aires Series: The Art District in La Boca
La Boca is one of the most traditional neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. Like I mentioned in my last post about Caminito, it holds the roots of the Argentine culture. But now it is a beautiful dichotomy: it's a fusion of the old and the new. It's the city government's newest project. The rescuing of La Boca consists in promoting different art spots around the city that range from visual arts, scenic arts, music and literature. La Boca, San Telmo y Barracas are the three neighborhoods where you can find the different Art Districts.
La Usina del Arte
La Usina is a huge building located in the heart of Boca that was first built by an electricity company. It was later refurbished and re-baptised as "La Usina del Arte", where different rooms were built and stocked for different purposes: dance exhibitions, concerts, and spaces for plastic art.
'Submergence' by Squidsoup is one of the installations remaining from the Ciudad Emergente Festival that ended last week. It is a mix of lights, colors and sounds placed in front of a black wall, and lights hanging from the ceiling. It is interactive, so you can go inside the installation and experience it fully. Squidsoup is an international group of artists, researchers and designers that work with digital and interactive media experiences around the world. You can see more of their work here.
Street Art
The murals and the explosive colors that contrast with the city's general greyness are definitely worth a visit. Perhaps the most interesting thing about la Usina del Arte is what is around it. It's a few blocks of pure art and creative expressions. Most of the murals were painted during the Ciudad Emergente Festival by different artists from all around the world: Telmo Miel, Camille Walala, Felipe Pantone, James Rea, Amor, RRAA and Guille Pachelo are just a few of those artists. This movement is called Arte En La Ciudad (Art In The City). People use the hashtag #ArteEnLaCiudad to share their own pictures of the murals, so make sure to check it out on Instagram to see more of this movement.
For more information about these places, follow a few of these accounts: @usinadelarte, @color_ba, @buenosaires as well as their Facebook pages, where they announce the events that take place every week.