My big plan for today was to see an art exhibit-- Constelaciones (Constellations). The museum is far from my house, and I knew it would be an adventure to try to get there! My friend Raluca wanted to see the exhibit, too (and go to the after-party), so we decided to meet at 2. I couldn't remember for sure the stop we'd agreed on, so I texted and called her to ask. Since to the best of my memory she'd said Congreso, I got off el Subte there. Since Raluca hadn't answered, and was nowhere in sight, I decided to walk around. And surprise (but really it was), there was the National Congress Building! Again, these pictures don't convey a bit of what I saw. It was huge, and intricately carved, and very beautiful!
Raluca called me later (she had overslept), and we met at the San Juan stop. We took a bus to La Boca, the province where el Museo Maguncia (the museum we went to) is. We accidentally got off a few stops early, and walked several blocks through a deserted shipyard area and a huge crowd of soccer (¡fútbol!) fans. We were the only two walking in the direction that we were, passing hundreds of soccer fans walking the other way. A few of them shouted compliments at us. It was a little scary! When we made it through the crowd, though, the museum was right in front of us. =)
Constelaciones was amazing. El Museo Maguncia is apparently one of paper and stamps, so all the work was painted and drawn on paper (except for a few photographs and sculptures). Almost all the art I've seen before has been oil and canvas, so it was definitely something new!
I didn't take any pictures (both because my camera was very nearly dead and because I wasn't sure if they were allowed), but my very favorite work was a bunch of what I think were modified kids' drawings. A lot of it had to do with being a foreigner and holding on to your culture. One illustrated a fountain, another a dog out in the rain. One was a gloomy desert sunset that said "NO SOY DE AQUÍ" (I'M NOT FROM HERE). Another had a picture of a Mayan sculpture with a color-code and all the rules violated, and right next to it a Mayan hieroglyphic guide with "O" being the only letter missing.
My favorite piece of that series was one that looked like a page ripped out of a notebook. It said (among other things), "Puede. Quien? What date? Que fecha? Qué día es hoy? Mejoró. Mejoro. ahora. ahora. ahora. hoy. hoy. hoy. hoy. esta noche. grande. pequeño. I inglés. No entiendo. No entiendo. Me entiendos? despacios. Taxi." All these are words are things that a foreigner is likely to need. "He can/you can. Who? What date? I improved. I'm improving. Now. Today. Tonight. I don't understand. Do you understand me? Slowly, please. Small. Large. Taxi." I can absolutely relate to this one! My Spanish is much, much better than that (I understood a whole lecture about Arab women in film yesterday!), but my notebook is filled with daily-use phrases that I'm just learning, too. I loved the word-play with "I improved/I'm improving," which in Spanish is the same word with or without an accent.
Some of my other favorites were a picture of a huge building like el Congreso painted and drawn with different textures and colors (it made me think of memory and the associations we make with different places); some papers torn out of notebooks with incomplete magazine collages (that one also made me think about memory, and the medium was really interesting); and a drawing of three princesses on a stage in front of a big gray castle with smokestacks.
Unfortunately, my internet wasn't working this morning, so I didn't see that the after-party starts at 7, and didn't get the address of the location! It was a great exhibit, though, and after that we made our way back and explored an antique store. A few rooms in the store were full of antique chandeliers. It was really beautiful! I also saw an original version of Eva Perón's autobiography, which used to be a required book in school.
I took the wrong routes several times on el Subte trying to get back, but eventually it worked out, and I saw some great subway art! lol. I'm not sure yet what I'll do tomorrow. I'm thinking tango, antiques, and/or books!
Here's more graffiti I liked (from Palermo Chico):
Chao!
Kaeli
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