Argentina opens largest cultural center in Latin America

[forest444]

Luiciana Bertoia
Buenos Aires Herald

The former Central Post Office Building yesterday officially became the Néstor Kirchner Cultural Center. According to President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner it houses the dreams of her administration to build a more inclusive country, she said seven months before leaving the Casa Rosada.

The ceremony was taken as an opportunity for Fernández de Kirchner to praise her cultural policy — sitting next to Culture Minister Teresa Parodi and Planning Minister Julio De Vido. “Look at what we’ve done. We want to move forward with open digital TV — which is aimed at democratizing communications — but we first need to put into practice the Broadcast Media Law,” the president yesterday said in reference to the legislation her lawmakers and their progressive allies passed in 2009 and has become one of her government’s landmark achievements.

“This was possible thanks to a prospering economy. Culture is always linked to the economy,” Fernández de Kirchner said.
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Full Name: The President Néstor Kirchner Bicentennial Cultural Center.

Location: Bouchard 350 (downtown).

Dimensions: 100,000 m² (1.1 million ft²) total floor space, 60 metres (197 feet) high.

Production: Six-year construction and renovation project; employed over 1,000 workers, used over 2,000 tons of steel.

Cost: 2.46 billion pesos (US$275 million), plus 164 million pesos (US$18 million) for art work.

Total Capacity: 5,000 people.

Features: 12 floors, 15,000 m² (160,000 ft²) of exhibition space, two viewing galleries, six auditoriums, 12 vestibules, 16 rehearsal rooms, 40 exhibition halls. The main “Blue Whale” Auditorium has capacity for 1,950 people.

Admission: Free and open to the public.

History: Former Central Post Office headquarters. The original building took 30 years to complete, and opened in 1928. Designated a National Historic Monument in 1997, it fell into disuse in 2003. (more about the Central Post Office: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buenos_Aires_Central_Post_Office)

Claim To Fame: Largest cultural centre in Latin America; fourth-largest worldwide after the Tokyo International Forum, the Barbican Centre (London), and Centre Pompidou (Paris).

At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/189789/cfk-opens-largest-cultural-centre-in-latam

Photos: https://www.flickr.com/photos/culturaargentina/sets/72157652858377779

[Judi Lynn]

1. So beautiful! I looked at the photos, first. They are wonderful.

Was thinking that it was probably an exiting assignment for those who worked on the restoration, knowing how beautiful the building was going to be, and what a showpiece for the citizens to take pride in, and to enjoy continually, and to want to show their friends, relatives from out of town.

The rooms are amazing, and the concert hall is spectacular. I have never seen one designed that way. What wonderful fun for all concerned, being able to stand so close to the orchestra while they're practicing. How memorable for the children, too!

I can't wait to see more photos as the building reaches completion.

Was happy to see Christina made sure she honored the workers who recreated the building for a new age. Good for her, and it sounds exactly like the way she chooses to do things. You may recall in her inauguration address, she also honored the Mothers of the Plaza, the courageous women who faced down the military dictatorship as they publicly protested and demanded information, and response for the kidnapping of the grandchildren from their imprisoned, tortured, often murdered sons and daughters taken by the fascists to pay the ultimate price for their opposition to the right-wing tormenters, killers of the people. Unfortunately, some of the mothers were unable to attend, some of them had already been murdered by the military dictatorship through the use of infiltrators who had them arrested, tortured, murdered.

However well the people will enjoy this great gift, celebration, you can be sure the fascist, private news publishers will go out of their way to downplay it enormously. They are the same ones who completely whitewashed the dictatorship. They should have been put out of business, but they're still ticking, even today. What a pity.

There are going to be some devoted fans of that enormous building and its events.

[forest444]

2. Thank you for the beautiful thoughts, Judi Lynn.

And, as always, for being so well informed and acquainted with the background story. It's certainly there.

I should have included in the excerpt above that, despite being invited, the Mayor of Buenos Aires did not attend. Nor, despite being invited, did he attend the recent unveiling of the Memorial to the ESMA Detention Center Disappeared (for those not familiar, the ESMA was by far the largest detention center during the Dirty War of the 1970s with at least 5,000 killed there).

It stands to reason though: in the case of the cultural center because Macri shuttered 20 cultural centers last year for purely political reasons, while sharply increasing city subsidies to parochial schools and spending on publicity and his party. And in the case of the ESMA memorial because his party, the PRO, was itself named in honor the dictatorship at the time (known in Argentina as the Proceso) and because he himself considers human rights "a scam" despite being kidnapped for ransom as a young man by a CIA-trained police special unit. Stockholm syndrome, perhaps?

This brat, currently making his second try for the presidency, has become a real media darling among the U.S. far right. And why not? He has, after all, quadrupled the municipal debt - much as the GOP hypocritically touts "fiscal conservatism" while winking at gargantuan contractor fraud and record deficits (just as Macri has).

I'm pretty sure these underhanded shows of support for the 1976 dictatorship -which, as you know, was vocally supported by the GOP- is no doubt contributing to Macri's ongoing bromance with the op-ed shills in the U.S. business press. And if so, I suppose attending the inaugural of the third or fourth largest cultural center in the world right in his city was just too much to ask.

[Judi Lynn]

3. Argentina's president seeks arts legacy with concert hall

Argentina's president seeks arts legacy with concert hall
Sun, 24/05/2015 - 14:40


Reuters


With less than a year to go in her presidency, Cristina Fernandez has sought her place in Argentina's cultural history, unveiling Latin America's largest arts complex, housed in Buenos Aires's historic former Post and Telegraph Palace. Named after Fernandez's late husband and predecessor, Nestor Kirchner, the Kirchner Cultural Center's focal piece is an avant-garde bulbous "blue whale" auditorium. With wooden slats on the walls evoking a whale's ribs, it will house the nation's previously homeless symphony orchestra.

The neoclassical building, revamped by local architects, boasts more than 100,000 square meters (1.08 million square feet). It has no permanent art collection, but will stage exhibits, concerts and shows. Critics have called it an above-budget vanity project. Entry will be free to ensure it is a space for "the people," in stark contrast to Argentina's famous Teatro Colon opera house where tickets reach above $100, a princely sum for most Argentines.

"Classical music until a few years ago used to be directed to the elite," Planning Minister Julio de Vido told reporters, a day after the official inauguration by Fernandez. "From the beginning we wanted this cultural center to have the Argentine working class as its protagonist."

The grandiose building, originally opened in 1928 during the city's golden era when Buenos Aires was coined the "Paris of South America," for a while housed the offices of fabled first lady Eva Peron. After falling into disrepair following the privatization of the postal service in the neo-liberal 1990s, it was earmarked for rejuvenation in the 2000s after Kirchner set about re-nationalizing key industries.

More:
http://www.egyptindependent.com//news/argentina-s-president-seeks-arts-legacy-concert-hall

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Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández



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[forest444]

4. She's an eccentric gal - but she (and her late husband) achieved a lot for their country.

Last edited Sun May 24, 2015, 10:31 PM - Edit history (2)

Especially given the circumstances they inherited, and the vicious enemies they had to contend with while doing so (local extremists right and left, the Opus Dei, the Miami exile mafia in Congress and at the State Department, and of course the drug laundry/vulture funds).

On a personal note, I had the chance to visit the building about a decade ago in one of the guided tours they gave tourists back then. At the time, almost none of the Buenos Aires locals (famous for their negativity and cynicism) seemed to believe the cultural center would ever in fact be built. They really did a great job both with the new halls and with restoring the original interiors (they just don't build them like that anymore!).

Thanks for the update, Judi. It's a great compliment for the Argentines coming from Egypt, a country with one of the world's truly monumental cultural legacies.

Here's a recent video clip of the Argentine National Symphony (at 1:00) rehearsing in the new concert hall. Enjoy!

[Judi Lynn]

5. Wonderful. Who wouldn't love the open, airy, spacious feeling in the auditorium? It's fantastic.

I thought I has seen a colossal pipe organ in the still photos, and there it is, in this video. Wow. I can only imagine what that would sound like as a single instrument in there. Spell-binding.

The concert-goers there are going to be a very lucky bunch. It's such a spectacular creation.

And the blue ceiling. How other-worldly is that?

The interior, looking down at the main hall from the balconies is amazing, too, isn't it? I thought of your comment "They aren't making them like that any more" when I saw it. They most clearly AREN'T.

Well, I hope the Mayor of Buenos Aires sits home and never makes it to the Cultural Center. Hope his flesh bonds to his chair until it becomes part of him and they have to cut him out of it. Someone that spiteful couldn't enjoy real music, anyway.

Can't you see the primary school kids flipping out when their schools take them on their own visits to the auditorium to see it for themselves? They really won't forget that. I didn't forget my trip to the music hall, either, and there wasn't anything spectacular about the place, other than the music. What an introduction for kids in Argentina.