From Saavedra to Bellas Artes: the new Bienalsur exhibitions in Buenos Aires

In partnership with some of the museums One of Buenos Aires' most important exhibitions, Bienalsur presented four new exhibitions a few weeks ago, a perfect excuse to tour the city. In addition, they expanded the offerings inaugurated in July, adding works to the Persistences exhibition at the Fernández Blanco Hispano-American Museum , while Pablo Reinoso's "Breathing Tower" installation was installed in the entrance hall of the National Museum of Fine Arts .

Starting in the Saavedra neighborhood, in the heart of Sarmiento Park is the Cornelio de Saavedra Historical Museum , where, among leafy trees and vestiges of our history, you can visit Entre Ríos , which, in dialogue with the museum's heritage, invited the Argentine artist Ariel Cusnir to develop a new look at a key episode of resistance in the course of our country's independence, such as the English invasions, which took place in 1806 and 1807. Cusnir creates visual displacements in relation to memory.

“Far from portraying military feats as epic, it approaches these scenes from a critical perspective, sensitive to absurdity, distortion, and the narrative power of the marginal,” shares curator Clarisa Appendino. This proposal invites us to rethink the imagery that defines our past in order to reexamine it through landscapes, portraits, details, and moments from a committed present.

The second exhibition is at the Enrique Larreta Museum of Hispanic-American Art in the Belgrano neighborhood. Naturalia or The Diversity of the World , curated by Pablo La Padula, proposes a return to nature —an ideal proposal considering the museum's gardens and the artist's extensive experience with the subject—through bird photographs by Valeria Cannata , naturalistic drawings by Paula Darriba , and a soundscape by Italian artist Alberto Tadiello , composed from the sounds made by Patagonian mammals, countering the notion that the body always yearns to return to its roots, to the freest and rawest origin that exists, not even in the middle of the city.

The third exhibition is being unveiled at the Sívori Museum , also located in one of the city's most beautiful green spaces. Lenguaviaje. The Depoesía of Augusto de Campos was curated by Gonzalo Aguilar and brings the public closer to the extensive output and valuable vision of the Brazilian poet, whose work emerged during the 1950s with the help of the concrete poetry movement, which, together with homonymous groups in the visual arts field in Argentina and Brazil, shook the foundations of the culture of both regions.

De Campos, who is not only a poet but also a translator, essayist, and critic, creates a dialogue between his practice, the visual arts, and music , promoting concrete poetry and exerting a notable influence on future generations.

“ Augusto de Campos presents himself as a poet who refuses to follow the well-trodden paths of mainstream poetry . That's why he calls himself an "ex-poet," titles one of his books "Despoesía," and takes poetry beyond poetry itself, venturing into the visual realm and formats such as video, music, and design," says Aguilar. Long live the rebels of the south, who proposed new creative and expressive possibilities through words and images.

At the Isaac Fernández Blanco Museum of Hispanic-American Art , works are added to the Persistences exhibition, in the manner of a second chapter, creating a coexistence between the works of Juan Sorrentino, Pablo Reinoso –whose installation “Breathing Tower” can also be seen in the hall of the National Museum of Fine Arts–, Clemente Padín and Mene Savasta , in addition to an installation by the Brazilian artist duo Gisella Motta & Leandro Lima.

"Installed in the choir stall of this unique building, the work consists of a machine that automatically fills several balloons deployed on the floor with air.

“The works gathered here coincide in placing something as primal and vital as air and the act of breathing at the center of attention . Each of the artists chose to situate their reflection on the essential dimension that makes life possible,” says curator Diana Wechsler, who believes the works take on a special dimension, considering the current environmental and social crisis affecting the world.

Finally, at the National Museum of Engraving, you can see The Edges of Water. Around Islands, Rivers, and Other Amphibian Territories , curated by Cristina Blanco and Alicia Valente. This is an opportunity to see pieces by artists from different generations and countries in the region, including Mele Bruniard, Jimena Croceri, Pauline Fondevila, Leonilda González, Dani Lorenzo, Mónica Millán, César Miranda, Muca Musea, Ernesto Pesce, Víctor Rebuffo, Luis Seoane, Agustina Triquell, and Manuel Fernández , who showcase their works, publications, maps, and current research projects.

"The exhibition seeks to address a multitude of issues from two axes that are constantly intersecting and articulating . That of poetics, which displays fictional constellations of fauna, landscapes, and mythical resonances, and that of the political nature of these territories, the diverse ways of recording and documenting them," the institution states.