A Summer Summary

Sadly, this was my blog during my summer in Buenos Aires, meaning that time has passed. I am now back living in the United States with a serious case of the travel bug. 

Here is a quick recap of what I wrote about:

- I jumped right in and got lost.

- I had some linguistic revelations. And sometimes things got pretty weird in my Spanish-soaked brain. 

- I did some touristy things like the Ferria de San Telmo, and less touristy things like follow a spontaneous protest through the streets. 

- I traveled to Iguazú Falls and went zip lining through the forest. I also spent a week in Montevideo.

- I had an awesome internship at a marketing agency.

- I got honestly inspired by Buenos Aires Graffiti. 

Despite trying for a long time, I could never come to write a comprehensive reflection of my time in Buenos Aires. I miss it dearly, but know I will return one day. I mastered Spanish and became a different person. I learned more about the world and about myself than I can concretely articulate, so I'll just summarize what happened and keep thinking. 

My Final Week in Buenos Aires

I haven't been writing too much here lately... I'm too busy living it up in my last week here. 

Very fast update of what I've done lately:

Went to a closed-door Asian restaurant. Photos to come. 

Went out to the bars with friends from Spanglish. Came home at 7am.

Hung out with someone from Columbia, Missouri. Learned the phrase "comosapien."

Slept in quite a bit this morning. (see above)

Now I'm headed out to an asado of a friend of a friend.  

Stencilland & Jazz Nacional

I went by The Post Bar after work today to pick up the stencil art I reserved following my Graffitimundo tour. I mentioned the bar on Flickr, but didn't post about it here. Basically, this bar has been decorated by the coolest street artists of Buenos Aires. In exchange for decorating it, they got use of the back room and upper level as a cooperative way to sell their works and as an exhibit space. 

Going outside the tour was amazing. I walked into this divey bar, all covered in graffiti and went straight to the back room. It's through the kitchen and the door was closed. I just walked right on through and back into the gallery. 

During their open hours, there is always an artist there. I was lucky enough to meet Stencilland, the guy who made this great stencil.

I ended up talking with him for about twenty minutes.

He shared his inspiration for the idea, which comes from the sad fact that many kids in Buenos Aires juggle at intersections to raise money. The kid here is, in fact, juggling alcohol, drugs, violence and an eaten apple. 

Roberto said that juggling is the only skill these kids develop and that's what he wanted to share in the work. It's an entire sad generation.

I bought a print of this piece, in addition to the other one I reserved. They work well together. Him and I talked, all in Spanish of course, about his method, what he's trying to do with his artwork and why he isn't seeking fame. He said he just loves to paint. I think that's a perfect answer.

I also stopped in a record store on my way home. I was browsing around and found a national jazz section. This album stuck out to me. It's a really talented musician named Javier Malosetti.

A double necked bass? How can I not buy this?

I also picked this one up, after telling the cashier that I played bass. He suggested Alejandro Herrera, a more funky bassist from Argentina. Both of these records are national labels. I never would have found them from the US. 

I

I'm glad to be finding such inspiring artists in BsAs. Only now do I realize that I've never saught out and had a discussion with a professional artist in the US. I think that's something I'm going to get more into.

The Graffiti of Buenos Aires

Today I went on a bike tour to see the city's graffiti. I was both impressed and inspired by these artists. The scene in Buenos Aires is unique, since artists can paint in public space almost openly. They take their time and roll out some well conceived and stylish work. 

The best part of this tour, which I booked though Graffitimundo Buenos Aires, was having a guide to explain about each artist's method, inspiration and style in depth. Below are some of my favorite works by my new favorite artists. All the names are links to their websites, so be sure to check it out for yourself. 

 There's too many photos to go through all of them on here. Please check out My Flicker Set about my tour. It's got all my photos from the day with tons of descriptions. Let me know what you think!

Mart

Jaz Jaz Mart & Poeta Incredibly detailed stencil wall

Club Silencio - Entering into an Artist's home

           

Last night, I went to a closed-door club called Club Silencio. It’s vaguely based on the movie Mohalland Dr. and is meant to be a surreal experience focused on the senses. What that really means is that an artist named Shoni Shed invites guests into his home, then blindfolds us for an entire performance.

            My night began by taking the 110 collectivo all the way to Villa Crespo, a small neighborhood bordering Palmero. I had an address, a reservation and no idea what the night had in store for me.

            I hopped off the bus and walked on the path of the directions I’d memorized. I’d forgotten the exact address of the club. I walked a half-block past my destination and asked a parking attendant, all in Spanish, if he knew where “Club Silencio” was. He told me about the boliches in the area and I explained that this was a secret club, which I knew was within these few close blocks. He said he’d heard musicians and seen people waiting in the street just a half block back. This was exactly what I was looking for.

            I walked up to the unmarked black door and examined it. Nothing out of the ordinary. I looked at the doorbells just to the left. One of them had simple markings, written in sharpie – Club Silencio. I pressed it. Only then did I recall the explicit directions in the email – No tocar timbre – don’t ring the doorbell!

            A woman came to the door and looked outwards, at myself and the couple waiting with me. She told us that they would be ready in about 10 minutes and that we should wait. Most importantly, when more people come, we should be sure to not ring the doorbell. She would come to retrieve us when they were ready. So we waited. 

            More and more people showed up, all collecting at the entrance to some strange experience ahead. After a period of time, and random bits of small talk among ourselves, the same door opened. No one moved. There was a tap at the open door, demanding our attention. I looked past the frame and saw a person holding the door open, covered by a theatrical mask with a comically large nose. It simply gestured that we should follow down the hallway…

            I was the first to obey. I stepped inside the passageway and walked down a long corridor with no roof. I glanced up at the stars above, and then quickly back at my new compadres to be sure I was not alone. I really felt like I was part of a David Lynch movie.

            All that happened next was grand, but I hesitate to write about it. In this age of Google searches, I would hate for my blog to interfere with the experience of other attendants of Club Silencio. I won’t reveal all that happened, nor my personal reactions to the blindfolded, hour-long experience I had. Ask me about that in person sometime.

Update on Monday, July 16, 2012 at 12:43PM by Lucas Moore

I was just emailed this image of myself. haha.

Weekend Ahead

 

Tonight - Club Silencio - I'm going to a closed door, blindfolded club/preformance.  Surely, I'll write more about this once I experience it but it's inspiration was drawn from Mulholland Dr.

Saturday - Spanglish. Going with the flow again. Should be a good time. 

Sunday - A bike tour of the city's graffiti scene. 

 

Montevideo

I spent the first part of last week in Montevideo, Uruguay. After a forty-five minute flight from Buenos Aires, we arrived and took a shuttle to the hotel. Our driver for the week was an awesome guy named Hugo, who runs his own transport and tourism business with his son. If you're going to Montevideo, let me know and I'll hook you up with Hugo's contact information. He is such a cool guy.

Our first full day in the city was spent touring media outlets. We saw Canal 10 (TV), El País (Newspaper) and Radio Montecarlo (AM/FM). These are all essentially the best media outlets in the country, all based in Montevideo. We learned about the production behind each medium, the journalistic responsibility they each have and we met the folks that make them all run. My favorite memory was talking about music with the DJ of the FM station until our tour guide told us we had to continue on. 

One thing I noticed about Montevideo was the great graffiti. Hugo said all the youngsters are the ones tagging the city, just like anywhere. I thought they did a really great job. This wasn't nonsense, like the scribbles covering almost everything in Buenos Aires. This was real art. 

Just one example

On Friday, we had a tour of the city with Hugo. He took us through all the major streets, we stopped and saw the historical points and I had a great time chatting with him in the front seat. We only spoke in Spanish the entire time, so it was great practice. The highlights, for me, were seeing the Centenario Stadium, which was the site of the FIRST WORLD CUP EVER in 1930, and driving to the top of the hill in a barrio called Cerro, where we could look over the entire city. I'll let the photos do the talking from here on down:

This wall was part of an entire wall that surrounded old Montevideo

Teatro Solis the central Cathedral from early 1900s Congressional Building The View from Cerro El Centenario - the site of the first World Cup in 1930 Saw a few of these donkey carts scootin' around the city.

Check out the rest of my photos on My Flickr