How to be an artist in Argentina or more specifically in its capital Buenos Aires? The following articles attempt to sketch a picture of a very varied developing reality, one that must take into account the historical development of this country.

Let’s consider its recent past: the country was under a bloody dictatorship from 1976-1983, that took the lives of around 33,000 ordinary citizens, or perceived ‘dissenters’, whose bodies were never found (desaparecidos).  It is hard to imagine the psychological toll of such genocide on its population, but it is perhaps easier to imagine the levels of cultural censorship that the country would have been subject to; this is the context for the contribution by Graciela Taquini describing the relatively recent introduction of video art in Argentina. Even more recently, the country was subject to a harrowing economic crisis that led onto defaulting with the IMF; I translate an abridged version of an article that reflects on the crisis ten years later from the perspective of how it impacted on the modes of art production.

Art education is patchy in the sense that art degrees can be extremely lengthy and their programmes fairly traditional; people use their initiative more by organising ‘clinics’ with established artists, which effectively work as groups where joint critiques of ongoing works take place. The art market is very much still commodity oriented, favouring traditional mediums rather than video, photography and installation, but changes are taking place. Nora Fish is a gallerist with a slightly different outlook, and Marina Reyes embarks on a non-commercial project space called La Ene. Matilda Llambi takes us through MALBA the Museum for Latinamerican art that has just celebrated its 10th anniversary.

•   29 September Fundacion PROA
  website

  http://www.proa.org/eng/history.php
  email

  info@proa.org
  telephone

  0054 11 41041000
  contact

  info@proa.org
  address

  Av. Pedro de Mendoza 1929 C1169AAD, Buenos Aires, Argentina

  Contemporary art space with exhibition rooms, a multimedia auditorium, a specialized library and a restaurant.

•   29 September Proyecto 'ace
  website

  http://www.proyectoace.org
  email

  info@proyectoace.org
  contact

  info@proyectoace.org
  telephone

  0054 11 4551 3218
  address

  Conesa 667, altos C1426AQM, Buenos Aires

  Printmaking studios that run a number of paid residencies a year. They also have a library, a hireble studio and apartment for visiting artists.

•   3 October Faena Arts Center
  website

  http://www.faenaartscenter.org/
  address

  Aimé Paine 1169, Faena Art District. Puerto Madero, Buenos Aires Argentina (1137).
  telephone

  4010 9233
  email

  info@faenaartscenter.org

  Faena Arts Center supports the work of internationally recognised artists and curators.  They also administer a yearly international arts prize in the region of US$25,000.

• working internationally
• argentina