In the framework of times and aesthetics that come together in the streets of Buenos Airesthere is a possible route that connects a large number of public buildings, built in a particular political time: the first and second presidencies of Juan Domingo Perónbetween the years 1946 and 1955.
defined as examples of social architecturethese buildings that housed schools, hospitals, homes or institutions such as the headquarters of the CGT and the Eva Perón Foundation, today they are part of the daily landscape, which the inhabitants of the city travel every day. Forgotten, in many cases, the political intention that saw them born, they are nevertheless very significant spaces for the personal memory of each one of the porteños.
In the works that make up the sample “Peronist Architecture” (Museum of the Bicentennial)the photographer Claudio Larrea’s lens rescues that building heritage from daily indifference and redefines it, making it the protagonist of his photographs.
“No work had ever been done on the architecture of this period,” says the photographer, who began recording these works upon his return to Argentina, around 2013, after living outside the country for a few years. “In stylistic terms, the main characteristic of the architecture of the Peronist period consisted of its complex diversity. There was no single model of forms and typologies, which is why neoclassical forms coexist in the spaces with variations of modern currents, such as art deco and its transition towards rationalism”, is how Larrea defines the aesthetics of the works that he registered for his project.
Well-known journalist and art and production designer, Larrea Two decades ago, he began a path in the photographic field that led him to exhibit in the main Argentine galleries and halls, in Barcelona (the city where he lives most of the year) and at the Getty Foundation in Los Angeles. Buenos Aires (its streets, its nights, its landscapes and its inhabitants) is at the center of his work, with variations that describe it from the perspective of different periods of the last century or with a close look at schools like the one in Düsseldorf or from of the imprint of Horacio Coppola and Saamer Makarius.
justicialist life
“It’s like a parade of old acquaintances that we look into each other’s eyes for the first time”, thus defined the artist daniel santoro the content of the sample, in the presentation of the Bicentennial Museum.
Regarding the absence of human figures in the reproduction of each of the buildings, Claudio Larrea explains: “architecture is the protagonist, spaces are described as entities, as living beings. They are true portraits that allow the observer to perceive the idea conceived by the architect”. The school founded by Bernd and Hilla Becher, creators of “The New Objectivity” and the work of their disciples (Candida Höfer, Thomas Ruff and Andreas Gursky) are a reference and inspiration for the photographer, in the total map of the project.
As for the architectural works themselves, they are mostly due to Jorge Sabate, one of the most prominent professionals during the Perón government. He was the author of buildings like the Eva Peron Foundation (current Faculty of Engineering) and the headquarters of the CGT. In addition, under his mandate as mayor of the City of Buenos Aires (between 1952 and 1954) the race track and the Parque Centenario amphitheater were inaugurated.
“My idea is to continue with the project at a national level -explains Larrea-. So far I have registered the buildings of Buenos Aires and the Republic of Children in Gonnet. I am interested in continuing to work with researchers and historians to reinforce the documentary and historical content”.
citizens
In parallel and as a counterpart, a second exhibition by Larrea is exhibited these days in Buenos Aires. Is about “Porteños”, which can be seen in the Otto gallery (Paraná 1158). Unlike “Peronist Architecture” which focuses on the mute expression of solitary buildings; In this exhibition, the inhabitants of Buenos Aires take the foreground and, in black and white, narrate their own history in the surroundings of the city.
In the sample presentation text written by Juan José Sebreli and Marcelo Gioffré, Larrea is a “flaneur” or “hunter” who appropriates “ineffable crosses between city and citizens”. “Buenos Aires, a walkable city, molded to the human foot, is the place where that man feels comfortable,” the writers explain.
José Manuel Elliot was in charge of curating the exhibition, which compiles works from a decade. between 2010 and 2020. “I always took photos of the people of Buenos Aires, I love the dynamics that the city has, with its contrasts and its paradoxes that sometimes awaken humor and tenderness in me,” explains the photographer.
With or without people, in the urban design that Larrea draws, from irony to canceled dreams, any porteño can be recognized.
Image gallery
