Street Art in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Buenos Aires has always been a strong cultural pole within the concert of the Latin American nations. Setting trends and exploring the new as well as the avant-garde, Buenos Aires cultural groove has been -throughout its history- at the level of those within developed nations. In many other articles we've written about style, design, fashion and art, the Di Tella institute as a channel for the alternative artistic flow within 1960s pop art Buenos Aires. We also pointed out the fact that Argentina has not only explored the culture within the gray limit area -between vanguards and established- but also taken upon the early modernism challenge throughout the 19th century in the world of literature, architecture and philosophy.

In this occasion we feel it's important to explore a specific kind of cultural manifestation, that of the bohemian off limits, street-like art. It has grown greatly during the last couple of years at the time it has become one true cultural attraction within the city. Puppeteers, painters, musicians, actors, clowns, mimes, poets, dancers, and all sorts of plastic artists fill the streets with art related significant performances that offer an alternative approach to the world of sensitivity and creativeness in post millennium Buenos Aires.

Indeed there's a strong social, economical and political factor that pushes upon these street performances most of them excluded from the official, as well as the underground circuit.[1]

From the deep economic and social crisis that hit our nation back in the late days of 2001 raising to the top the unemployment rate at the time the traditional income provider salaries and jobs became depressed, a new perspective emerged as many artists and bohemians -feeling their known world of social participation was collapsing- chose to follow their passion; and with the aid of their creativity and whit they began to develop alternative "jobs" where to combine their passion with the possibility of earning a living.

Buenos Aires public transport options: subway, train and busses became mobile theatres for flash shows -as long as it takes the subway to go from a stop to the other is a possible time gap measure that has led us to describe them as flash shows. Improvisations in the underground, folk and rock n'roll live music on the trains, pop music aboard a bus have become a new and interesting feel of what was until recently, a boring ride to or from work.

On the other hand, trademark streets and walks such as Florida and Plaza Dorrego have transformed into open air dance studios where tango shows take place daily and especially during the weekend.

While traffic lights and cross roads turn into momentary circuses for juggling acts, fire and acrobatics as well as clown quick shows that entertain the drivers.

Along with these fine arts public shows we can also point out an intensive growth of street art throughout the city's walls. From traditional punk style graffiti's to stencil art with deep social and political connotations, the walls of Buenos Aires have become a huge canvass for a large portion of society that in need of cultural expression chose to explore alternative elements and "show rooms", addressing a new and little explored audience of the masses, those who never, or unusually frequent museums, show rooms, theatres and cultural environments of such style.

All and all, the borderline art in the Argentine society has also created its institutions and schools were to turn to for instruction, education, discussion and group work balance. One of the most interesting facets within this institutionalized world is the Mime School of Buenos Aires, located in San Telmo, as well as the ever growing clown schools. While these last institutions developed and grew in a gray area between the trendy underground alternative exercise world and the conceptual area of clown as a social manifestation; the first one was an avant-garde institution born in the early 1976 dictatorship years. Buenos Aires Mime School Parakultural grew to become a resistance environment to the censorship prevalent at the time against all cultural and social expressions. Today, over 26 years after the Mime School was born and under completely different situations we assist the birth of a broad and eclectic un-institutionalized public domain art trend in constant evolution. We should care upon a follow up regarding this post modern counter cultural trend in growth in our country.



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[1] While official art scene work is mainly preserved for an exclusive line of recognized artists, the underground art world is no longer an alternative breakthrough stepping stone. For the trend and style of post modern world is to be off limits, the underground world has began to walk through a path of institutionalizing and new underground options are now being developed... street art being one of those stepping stones.

Hope you have enjoyed reading! Bob Frassinetti