Argentine art takes root in Uruguay with innovative project in restored historic building

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – This summer, a selection of local creators are exhibiting at Temporal Atemporal, the first Argentine art show of Creative Cluster Development (CCD), in a historic building in Punta del Este. This spacious two-story space, located at Juan Diaz de Solis 630, was for 80 years -between 1933 and 2012- a renowned social club for locals, later abandoned.

Today, by the hand of Argentine collector and businessman Guillermo Rozenblum, it is back in operation to become an epicenter of local and global culture throughout the year. Strictly speaking, the inauguration of the CCD was in early 2021, but after a refurbishment work, this is the first season -pandemic through- that it is fully operational.

“We chose 25 artists because it is a number that represented a challenge. Within that selection, we prioritized the criterion that there should be geographical diversity, that they should not all be from the same city. We tried to make it as federal as possible. It is necessary to broaden the panorama of art in the country, and there are many artists throughout the territory who deserve to be seen,” says Yuyo Gardiol, curator of the exhibition and cultural manager of the Crudo Arte Contemporáneo space in Rosario.

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This idea can be seen in the different works exhibited in the show, whose visions are linked to the landscape where they live, to the land where they live: as in the case of the series Triángulo negro, by Virginia Chui, created with drawings made from ashes generated by the great fires that happened in the Rosario Delta island, in front of her house, last summer in San Nicolás. Or the work Fantasidos, by Facundo Díaz, an artist from Mendoza, influenced by his land of volcanoes and mountains.

The set ranges from pictorial art and sculptures to installations and videos. “All disciplines, because it is something proper of contemporary art, I would say its greatest characteristic, to break the border of discipline as an edge that runs all the time.”

The collaborative notion of the CCD starts from the gestation of ideas to the materialization of projects, with a focus on giving voice and accessibility to all agents of the art world. From artists to collectors and creatives. “It is open to all people who contribute value and have the right values. And its main objective is the dissemination of local, regional and international contemporary art,” says Rozenblum, who thought of this format based on his experience in the art world -Fundación Rozenblum (1985), the BSM Art Building (2007) in Buenos Aires and Crudo arte contemporáneo (2020) in Rosario-, where there are artists’ studios, exhibition sectors, and residencies.

With this bet, which he plans to replicate at a global level, he works with a central idea that considers art as a discipline that crosses all areas of life, generating greater visibility while bringing art to the public. Thus, within the CCD, the first GANGA fair was developed, where curated works were sold with prices between US$100 to US$3000. “At the CCD, I integrate all kinds of art because that’s how my life is: a curatorship that goes from design to gastronomy and fashion. In Punta del Este, there was no cultural center, so this project seeks to make up for that lack,” says Rozenblum.

The architecture of the space is also closely related to the multidisciplinary and contemporary proposal. The CCD (like the rest of the spaces created by Rozenblum) moves away from the classic static museum; its route is dynamic, with works that combine indoor and outdoor spaces. “Contemporary art does not need the white cube; just as its works move away from a limit, so should the spaces. It was an interesting challenge to curate this show and compose it in a building that carries so much information and texture,” Yuyo Gardiol considers.

The layout is surprising as you move along the tour: some works get lost in the materials, such as Luciana Rondolini’s Fuego para vendernos más humo (Fire to sell us more smoke) -worked with enduido (plaster coat), it is located on a wall that also has texture and seems to merge into the work- or Marcos Calvari’s installation Derecho a la Pereza, -seven Paraguayan tulle hammocks that move as a result of the wind coming through a door located right next to them-. “This work talks about something that seems to be as natural as resting; it is not so easy. And the wind plays its own role, making them look very fragile, like the right to laziness,” says the curator.

On the other hand, the space promotes entrepreneurship in the creative industries, having as one of its objectives the support of NGOs aimed at social reintegration through the arts and will have a program of educational talks and conferences.

TO MAKE AN APPOINTMENT

Monday to Friday from 2 pm to 8 pm, with free admission. The Temporal Atemporal exhibition can be visited throughout the season. At the end of January, the second floor of the building will be inaugurated with a large living room with a functional design where interior design objects, sculptures, photographs, and local design from Uruguay will be exhibited.