But if one place needs to be highlighted, that is of course the Hotel de Inmigrantes, the landmark and symbolic km 0. The complex of buildings, built during the early 20th century, was constructed with the intention to assist and receive the thousands of European immigrants escaping the Old continent to find a better life on the other side of the Atlantic, and on the other side of the hemisphere. It is now the Museo Nacional de la Inmigración and the Museo Nacional de la Tres de Febrero (the university museum). Especially for Bienalsur, the space has been ‘occupied’ by a wide range of exhibitions, interventions and actions, which go from big sculptures like the one by Iván Argote to site-specific installations like the one by Tatiana Trouvé. One of the most ambitious exhibitions of the space, Arte para pensar la nueva razón del mundo, is a collective show curated by Museo Reina Sofia’s team with the recently-acquired artworks of the Spanish institution, which includes pieces by Harun Farocki, Peter Friedl, Allan Sekula and Inés Djoujak, among others.
Nevertheless, as I’ve been highlighting since the beginning, one of the main reasons why Bienalsur is unique is its breaking DNA and atomization throughout the globe. So, in addition to Buenos Aires, we must also recommend a visit to Tigre, a town an hour away from the capital, whose museum and surroundings also exhibit some interesting pieces, like an installation by Leandro Erlich that makes the spectator become a jogger and run with a drumstick to play the art piece’s ‘secret’ tone. And that is, of course, if you happen to live in Argentina. But if you don’t, you only need to check what’s the nearest city or cultural centre to where you live, and book a flight to catch a glimpse of the magnificent, ambitious but strong biennale that will become a very relevant artistic agent in the years to come if it knows how to play its cards. For the moment, we know it’s playing an important role towards the development of today’s (and tomorrow’s) global art scene.