What is Central AFFAIR like, the project of 14 art galleries that revived an emblematic area of ​​downtown Buenos Aires

Glasses in hands, congratulatory hugs and reunions. Visitors circulate, contemplate and talk. All that happens at openings, but multiplied by 14. On a Thursday afternoon, a varied audience enters and leaves the premises on the first floor of the Larreta Gallery; 800 square meters of space that From this month they will belong to 14 art galleries. Every 45 days, they will not only be dedicated to opening exhibitions simultaneously, but will also schedule readings, live music and other activities.

Working in community in a context of crisis could be the main premise of the project. “We were able to do this because there were many of us working in the same direction”suggests Barbara Echevarria one of the founders of AFFAIR y Central AFFAIR next to Oli Martínez, Gabriela Gabelich, Ignacio Meroni, Sasha Dávila and Fernando Ferreyra. “It is a very difficult time for art in the country, times like this are for gathering energy both emotionally and professionally,” he adds.

Acefalathe gallery that Echevarría directs, is one of the first that the passer-by encounters when climbing the stairs. Presents a solo show by the architect and lighting artist Magdalena Molinariin which two sets of lights explore the effect of the sun on the atmosphere. In one of them, the 24 hours of a sky are reproduced in three minutes. “It is a non-existent one, invented by the artist in a mix between sunrises and sunsets,” comments. Unlike the series that follows – of static colors that are projected on the floor, referring to the surreal effect of a city at night captured on the river -, these lights mutate all the time and thus invite the contemplation of change.

“It is still very common today for people to have a reproduction of a work by Miró or Van Gogh in their home. If you have that poster framed and put glass on it, its value becomes more expensive and you end up spending what you could invest in a contemporary work of art by a young artist. Besides, These are living pieces, because their artists are alive, and a connection is generated with their universe that, by continuing to create, gives new meaning to their work. in time while the work hangs on the wall,” says the gallery director.

“The public that buys works is still very specific, an almost niche market of a few who know about the subject. The number of galleries and artists that exist in the country is not consistent with the market we have, and if we do not increase that market with real strategies, there is no way for all these projects to survive over time,” he says. “One has to demystify visual art, bring it closer to the public. The Night of the Museums is a popular success, which makes it clear that the interest is, perhaps What happens is that people go into those situations protected by the crowd and that is why they enjoy it so much. The fact that this is a historic shopping arcade, with this kind of ‘hallway of anonymity’, It allows you to circulate with some comfort while in the traditional art gallery people tend to feel uncomfortable asking about the prices of the works,” he points out.

These corridors, further along the same route, trigger Wisha gallery dedicated exclusively to sexuality, body and intimacy themes. In your current sample This is a love songthe artist Daniel Juarez He works on the conjunction of desire and the construction of his tastes based on different influences. Its practice starts from the use of pornographic magazines for the creation of other images, somehow spiritual, that speak of the drive for life with sacred shapes such as pyramids or circles. “Working collaboratively is great because Being a gallery owner, even if you don’t believe it, is a very hard job. One feels very alone. Being with others who go through the same thing helps you make decisions, from how to light the works for an exhibition, to whatever,” emphasizes the director of the space, Ignacio Meroni.

He URRA project of artistic residences installs, for its part, its first gallery in this center under the name URRA HIP-HiP. “We do not represent artists but their samples, with the intention, on the one hand, of helping the visibility of the works, and on the other hand, of raising funds to be able to carry out more art residencies.“, account Melina Berkenwalddirector of the gallery as well as the organization of residencies, which has so far received more than 400 artists from all over the world since its foundation in 2010. They were based in different spaces in both the City and the Province of Buenos Aires, and They currently operate in a space located in downtown Buenos Aires.

“It is a nomadic project, but now Finally we opened this fixed gallery with the idea of ​​making changing, federal and international exhibitions. In principle, we are interested in calling on artists who do not have representation in the city.” The first sample of the premises inaugurates what will be a series of conjunctions, pairs between artists and/or groups whose works complement each other. It is titled reality principley On this occasion, it brings into dialogue the intimate and existential paintings of Santiago Iturralde, with the fabrics of the Unión Textiles Semillas, made up of 12 groups of weavers, artists and activists from Tucumán who portray the particularity of their landscapes, traditions, territories and knowledge.

After having been based in the La Paternal neighborhood with a project that, in addition to art, offered gatherings and wine tastings every Saturday, the gallery Shrimp moved to this center “betting on the collaborative and collective”as explained Lola Silberman. His first exhibition brings together paintings by Amadeo Zago, faced with a wall that acts as a back room where pieces of Benito Laren and Milagros Pochat, among others from different backgrounds. “Have works for different pockets and budgets, The idea is that anyone can have a work in their home and enhance their space by choosing something they feel comfortable with. The visual arts sometimes tend to be very individualistic, unlike the spirit of cinema, for example, which is done as a team, the artist is alone in his workshop and the gallerist in his gallery. Committing to a project like this is a novelty, especially because we are in an area that was an emblem of the visual arts in the 60s, So reclaiming this space that was then full of effervescence is very positive. It is giving a new look and singularity to that moment in a different context where it is good to pull together,” outlines the gallerist.

The Galeria Larreta block was once an area of ​​influence of the Tella Institute and the door of the place used to lead in the 80s into a spacious underground headquarters that then had the Ruth Benzacar gallery. In a modernist style, it was designed in 1957 by architects José Aslan and Héctor Ezcurra. In 2000, the premises there belonged to avant-garde design projects and record stores, and The space preserves one of the first abstract murals by artist Luis Seoane. Furthermore, in recent years, the Microcentro Red Cultural project sought to promote the area as a current Buenos Aires cultural lighthouse by organizing music, literature festivals and more free activities for locals and tourists.

“We wanted to generate a slightly more selective tour for both the buyer and the non-regular art visitor, in the sense that they see 14 proposals at the same time and enter wherever they want. We are interested in the challenge of writing our own story, We have the responsibility to generate public interest“, that people know that here there is a place for artistic reflection,” he proposes. Ishmael Abrahan, gallery director Warehouse 47which in addition to its home gallery in San Nicolás de los Arroyos will now have this location; inaugurated with a solo show by the artist Kalil Llamazares that presents the landscape and nature as self-portraits. “We seek to promote and give visibility to artists with medium careers who are in constant training, whether academic or who are up to date with calls, salons. “That they have the desire and drive to produce and show,” he says.

The gallery’s inaugural exhibition TokonOMa, directed by Oli Martinez and officially moved to the Central Affair after its location in the Rue des Artisans passage, is by the artist from Mar del Plata Valeria Gopar. Graduated Summary of the daythis kind of minimalist memotest between memory and perception is based on a notebook that worked for the archival artist. He collected there, in the form of a collage, looks, situations and encounters, recorded during their daily walks. Shown for the first time at the MAR Museum, they were inspired by “events that could be insignificant, but serve as a reason to make art,” as Gopar points out when observing them.

“AFFAIR is an integrative project, our objective has to do with energize the Microcenter and make it easy for people to get closer. We are very close to Plaza San Martín in a strategic place in the city with countless means of transportation, everyone can get there,” exclaims MartÍnez.

In turn, galleries like Rawfrom Rosario, inaugurate their first headquarters in Buenos Aires, joining the project with a collective exhibition of seven federal artists from their staff; and Casa Equis, based in Mexico for five years, does so by presenting emerging mid-career professionals with the purpose of “break with the idea that art is for few, reaching first buyers with affordable prices.”

The resident galleries at Central AFFAIR are: Acéfala, Almacén arte contemporáneo, AnTnA, Camarones, Casa Equis, Crudo, FAN, Gabelich Contemporáneo, Sasha D., Tiempo, Tierra, TokonOMa, URRA-HIPHiP and Wunsch.