I'm your guide for Buenos Aires, Paula. At night you will meet me at Rodney Bar. This bar is a favourite artist hang-out and is located in the neighbourhood Chacaritas near the cemetery. Based on your conversation and your interests, I will suggest places to go and people to meet. Here I've made some suggestions.
First thing on your list will be visiting Fundacion START. Through interactions between artists and various other disciplines, and by using and simplifying the use of new technologies, START is developing alternative ways of social life. START promotes the construction of new public spaces, self-developed and self-sustained networks.
Take a breakfast at Confiteria la Puerto Rico. You will meet the philosopher, programmer and net artist Leonardo Solaas. He will give you an introduction to the Bola de Nieve (Snowball) project; an online visualisation tool that maps networks of artists from Buenos Aires and Argentina. It has been built collaboratively over the past ten years by art related people recommending others for the network.
Drinks with Roberto Jacoby and Pola Oloixarac
Based on your interest in artistic self-organisation in relation to the political climate, I will put you in contact with my friends Roberto Jacoby and Pola Oloixarac. Tonight you will go to the bar of the Plaza Hotel to have a drink with them.
Roberto Jacoby is a sociologist and a conceptual artist. Besides many other activities, Roberto is the founder of Ramona, a collaborative magazine about the art scene of Buenos Aires.
Pola Oloixarac is a novelist, singer and philosopher. One of her projects is 'Las Teorias Salvajes' (The Wild Theories), a black comedy about ideas that delves into the intellectual life of Argentina. It explores a new meaning for the political past of the revolutionary left in the 70s.
Experience experimental dwelling
Go and visit Studio A77. Studio A77 is an Argentinean partnership between two architects to build eco-friendly experimental dwellings. For their 'Plug and Live System', they recycle waste from the automobile industry and transform it into a collection of modules to build transitory habitats.
Looking for new urban ecosystems
Or you could meet the people behind Rally Conurbano and join them on one of their rallies. Rally Conurbano is a collective researching group that explores the metropolitan areas and terrain vagues of the city of Buenos Aires looking for new urban ecosystems. They call their trips “rallys”. Rally Conurbano program their rallies to unknown and sometimes conflictive urban scenarios. They gather information and produce debates that are webcasted regularly. Afterwards you will all enjoy dinner at El Globo together.
Participating in a weekly editorial meeting
I really recommend you to participate in one of the collective meetings of UR Magazine, a magazine on architecture and urbanism. It reviews the most recent trends in urban thinking seen from this part of the globe. UR is an open editing magazine which holds collective meetings to decide the content of their next issues. It’s managed by three architects but is focused on interdisciplinary collaborations about glocal urban issues.
Urban highlights
The disused rail network: an epical enterprise to link the whole country.
La Salada: the biggest illegal retail market in South America.
The national movement of recovered factories: breathing life into the national economy.
The city of La Plata: good examples of positivist, utopian architecture.
Arty places to hang
Confiteria la Puerto Rico
Bar of the Plaza Hotel
Rodney Bar
Creepy stuff
La Boca touristic “caminito” street
Palermo gentrified area.
Puerto Madero global business neighbourhood.
Mataderos traditional gaucho fair.
Subway: 90 centavos
Bus: 90 centavos
Train: 85 centavos
Taxi: 5 pesos
Ticket € 1300,00
Hotel € 600,00
Guide € 39,95
Total € 1939,95
Guide 175 peso
Exchange rate: 1 peso (100 centavos) : 0,23 euro
