BUENOS AIRES, DAYS 4-6

Although during my stay was the celebration of the Argentine Independence, you never would have known...It is not celebrated with such fanfair as it is here in the states.

I have spent most of my time in the city's Palermo neighborhood. Here, there are located many of the city's museums and the country's foreign embassies. There are three sites in particular that I have enjoyed visiting:

1. MALBA-Museum of Latin Art Buenos Aires
This is one of a few privately maintained museums in Buenos Aires. With that, you pay a slightly higher entrance fee, but the collection and the building warrant the price. While visiting, I viewed a show of Mexican artists whose work was situated around the period of 1968, so the work was highly charged with political and cultural themes of the time...i.e. war, gender issues, media...all obviously still relevant today as well.

One piece in particular was a mobile version of Bruce Newman's Broken Obelisk. The sculpture now is an open steel frame (instead of a corten steel structure) with netting/cloth to infill the frame. The entire piece is able to be dismantled and reassembled quickly. So part of the exhibit was to show this new art in different settings...i.e. art to the masses.

2. Evita Museum
Although some might think this to be a cliche in Buenos Aires, the museum did accomplish showing her contributions to the country beyond her high fashion tastes. I was not aware that she brought the women of Argentina the right to vote in the mid twentieth century, nor did I know that she and Peron accomplished so much to aid the needs of children with disabilities by building schools and offering special programs. Some of these schools are still in operation today. Although I am not completely up to date on all of the issues why she was not welcomed by many people in the country, I can appreciate that a museum dedicated to Eva Peron would only show the positive aspects of her legacy. So the exhibition may not be exactly balanced per se, I was, however, able to gain an additional appreciation of what seems like a very inspiring and influential woman.

3. Eva Peron's final resting place
As part of the exhibition, I learned that her body was originally buried in Milan, Italy. After Juan Peron left Argentina for Spain, he had her remains removed from Italy and brought to Madrid. It was only after his death that she was finally returned to Argentina where she resides in a masoleum in Buenos Aires. The exhibition showed many photos (some very macabre) of her body mutilated by different persons during each move. It seems a shame that people would find the need to harm and disfigure a body-deceased or not-out of protest to her and her legacy.