Hopscotch (Rayuela)

Buenos Aires
For Art Basel Cities
September 6 - 12, 2018

Eduardo Basualdo, Pia Camil, Maurizio Cattelan, Gabriel Chaile, Alex Da Corte, Santiago de Paoli, Narcisa Hirsch, David Horvitz, Leandro Katz, Barbara Kruger, Luciana Lamothe, Ad Minoliti, Eduardo Navarro, Alexandra Pirici, Mika Rottenberg, Mariela Scafati, Vivian Suter, Stan VanDerBeek

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Hopscotch (Rayuela) is a journey through Buenos Aires as seen through the eyes of eighteen international and Argentine artists. This public exhibition borrows its name and concept from the 1963 experimental novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar and from the timeless children’s street game popular in many cultures. Like the nonlinear sequence of the book and game, the exhibition hopscotches through the city, offering numerous possible paths through three neighborhoods. The selected artists have realized artworks in close dialogue with their venues, shaping a multilayered experience that connects visual art, urban spaces, and the city’s histories in unexpected ways.

Barbara Kruger is an American artist who works with pictures and words. Known for her pointed social commentary, she has created a site-specific installation that integrates text-based murals into the Buenos Aires cityscape. "Untitled (No puedes vivir sin nosotras / You Can't Live Without Us)" is a large-scale mural painted in the colors of the Argentinian flag covering an abandoned grain silo in Puerto Madero. Standing directly in view of Santiago Calatrava’s Puente de la Mujer, the mural reads (in Spanish), “You can’t live without us / power / pleasure / property / equality / empathy / independence / doubt / belief / women.” Below, it asks: “Who owns what?” Behind the silos are the Parque Mujeres Argentinas, which was dedicated to the women of Argentina in 2007 after decades of civic near-invisibility, while the neighboring streets commemorate major female figures like Juana Manso, Marta Lynch, and Manuela Sáenz. The forceful – yet hopeful – emblazoning of such a message onto the very face of the city continues Kruger’s commitment to feminist themes and offers solidarity to the country’s active women’s movement.

 Photos by Belen Caputo, Mani Gatto, and Muriel Bruschi

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