|
Art tells the story of politics in vibrant, sophisticated Buenos AiresModern galleries, elegant hotels in the city built along the Río de la PlataBy Lucy KomisarThe citizens of Buenos Aires are called “porteños,” people of the port. Perhaps this connection to the rest of the world contributes to their sophistication. “BA” is a city of grand, classical-style buildings, elegant neighborhoods, scruffy crowded “barrios,” pedestrian malls and even a kitchy tourist waterfront along the Río de la Plata, the Platt River. Like other great cities, it’s a center of contemporary art. Much of that reflects its turbulent political history.
If you happen to be in BA on a Friday afternoon, stop by the city-supported Centro Cultural Recoleta in the midst of a small park crisscrossed by rows of artisans selling wool shawls, handbags, jewelry and other crafts. The cultural center has numerous galleries, and if you’re lucky, you might be there for a opening; most of them occur on Friday afternoons. I arrived by chance in time to quaff some Argentine wine in honor of painter Alejandro Gigli, who was showing his art. Political art? In another gallery, I found a work composed of racks of dolls reflecting the merchandising of women.
Before you leave the plaza, visit the Cabildo, built in 1748 and the hotbed of the May 1810 revolution which started the country on the way to independence from Spain. Politics and art are sometimes uneasy partners. The famous English Tower, which evokes Big Ben, was given to Argentina by the British to commemorate the May revolution and set in Plaza San Martin, named after the independence leader. It is still firmly planted in this central square in spite of the 1982 war between Argentina and Britain over the Malvinas Islands (Falklands, to the British), a conflict which ironically benefited the Argentine losers, because it forced out the military dictators. Still, the Argentines changed the name from the Torre de los Ingleses (the English Tower) to the Monumental Tower.
No wonder. The Park Tower is elegant, regal, with marble in hallways and rooms, even in the elevator. Bathroom fixtures are gold and silver. My bedroom had French furnishings; the hallway was decorated with Chinese vases. In the lobby lounge, you could fold yourself into well-stuffed chairs set among potted palms and listen to a piano player or harpist. Chavez liked the harpist and spent time chatting with her. Then he went around glad-handing everyone, including this writer, as if he were Bill Clinton. The Sheraton Park Tower is very popular with heads of state!
Adjoining the Park Tower is the larger “sister” Sheraton, which has a convention center (where Chavez held his press conference), a health club with sauna and massage rooms, and a swimming pool.
Walking away from the canal on the other side of the hotel, you find a nature reserve built around five lakes and several jogging paths. The hotel offers a map of suggested routes from 2 to 4.5 miles distance. There’s also a Hilton fitness center, pool, steam rooms and massage center. A sense of history pervades Buenos Aires, but it is also,
today, a very modern city at
Sheraton Park Tower
Proa Fundación Centro Cultural Recoleta Asociación Madres de Plaza de Mayo Cell phones: Buenos Aires uses the same GSM 1900 standard as the U.S. and Canada. (GSM 900 and 1800 are used in Europe, Asia and parts of Latin America.) If you’re in town for a short time, you’ll want prepaid service (“tarjeta sin factura”), not a monthly subscription. You can buy a local GSM 1900 sim card for $15 at Telefonica Unifon, Avenida Corrientes 645 (between Florida and Maipu, downtown, 9 am to 6 pm). It’s the only company that sells a sim for prepaid service not bundled with a phone. Images by Lucy Komisar |
|
TM
One
day, I headed to La Boca, a collection of cafes, shops and galleries at a
section of the huge harbor that cuts a swath across the north and east of the
city. The cafes have sultry tango dancers to draw diners, but this is a real
neighborhood influenced by the European, mostly Italian, immigration of the late
1800s. It was a birthplace of the tango – its music a fusion of the rhythms of
African slaves, the tunes of Southern Italy and Spain, and the local “milonga.”
The dance started in brothels and then was popularized, remaining with its
origins always a bit scandalous. You can see that history reflected in the now
fading murals painted on building walls of the side streets.
When
I visit a city, I explore the contemporary galleries or museums to see what the
local artists are doing. The Proa Fundación space at La Boca is for contemporary
artists not chosen by the big museums or galleries; it has a strong interest in
political art. The exhibit I saw showed works based on Argentina’s wrenching
experience of the 1970s, when the country was violated by a repressive junta.
Some of the art works were crafted from of the dictators’ victims. Polo
Tiseira’s collages of plants, which represent life, were ironically fashioned
with bullets, which represent death.
One
political gallery turned up in an unexpected place. Strolling over to see the
Casa Rosada, the pink presidential palace with its gray French-style Mansard
roof, I came upon the storefront café and bookstore of the Mothers of the Plaza
de Mayo, with their signature white kerchief. The Casa Rosada broods over that
famous, politically-charged square, and the “Mothers,” no less famous now, have
held a demonstration every Thursday calling for justice to prosecute the
military killers of their activist children in Argentina’s dirty war.
Argentina
has come a long way since then. The government has granted the “Mothers”
concession booths at the Plaza, and they are mentioned in official guides. The
café-bookstore is a tourist attraction! In this vibrant city, politics and
culture mix with a Latin passion.
How
appropriate, as I was experiencing a city steeped in politics, to be staying at
the Sheraton Park Tower just across from the English clock tower. When I arrived
at the Sheraton, there was a red carpet set out and a gaggle of people – with
welcoming placards -- waiting for the President of Venezuela. Hugo Chavez had
picked the same digs!
The
breakfast room is under a sunroof, and the buffet—do you want caviar on your
croissants? Plus tropical fruits, and the usual fish, pastries, cereals,
yogurts. Lunch at the El Aljibe restaurant is where you go for thick and tender
steaks from the Pampas; would you believe that steak cost $13? I accompanied the
tender beef with salad greens of varieties I’d not seen before. El Aljibe also
features deer filet marinated in Malbec wine with almonds, pumpkin and honey! I
drank the excellent Malbec red. On the walls of the restaurant are paintings of
peasants and other scenes reflecting the country.
The
port again: for “porteños,” waterlinks are key. Puerto Madero, an area at the
eastern edge of the city center, was developed beginning in 1991 to incorporate
the port to the city. It used to have working cargo docks; now a few old loading
cranes are tourist attractions – one an information center! The Hilton Hotel,
part of the new Puerto Madero, sits smartly overlooking the canal, which now has
docks for yachts. I could see the canal and boats from my Hilton picture window.
Lines of outdoor cafes and shops inhabit the refurbished red brick canal
warehouses. As dusk falls, you can see the lights go on in the restaurants along
the water and on some of the larger craft anchored there.
The
hotel is nine floors around an atrium topped with a sun roof through which pours
abundant light; in the evening a lobby pianist holds forth. The rooms are soft
modern, the furniture dark wood and glass, the beige walls hung with artistic
of the city. And like all Hiltons, the generous desk has every
accoutrement a business traveler could want. Guests even get complimentary cell
phones: incoming calls are free; you pay only for calls you make.
the
center of a vibrant, democratic Argentina. Its politics, fortunately, has caught
up with its art.
Hilton
Hotel