Dinner last night - Restaurant Edgargo

An indescribable La Plata institution... and yes, those are indeed shrunken heads.

The Zoo

Yes, Zoo's are bad but unfortunately they remain a guilty pleasure. I actually set out to visit the Le Corbusier house (one of only 2 in the Americas) but it was closed and the Zoo was near by so... I did meet a bunch of free animals wandering around, all of who were persistently friendly and kept following me. The duck and the capabara (?) I had to really shake. Other than these new pals, and given the original plan for the afternoon, I was more enamored with the zoo architecture than their inhabitants. The condor cage is a HUGE metal structure that is basically an oversized bird-cage, really striking as a piece of sculpture. But yes, some of the animals seemed utterly depressed and I couldn't even bare to look at the tiger.

some buildings...

Football

Estudiantes de La Plata won 2-0! Incredible stadium, overwhelming soundscape, electric atmosphere. Loved it!

Residencia Corazon

Storm and Festi Freak

I was woken up this morning by the most almighty thunderstorm, torrential rain, gallery flooded. Quite the drama. 6 hours later and its still raining, still rumbling... I'm staying in bed, reading Pablo Neruda poems.

I watched two screenings at the Festi Freak Festival last night, the first an excellent experimental documentary by Andres Denegri called Lujan that I found extremely engaging, and the second a series of animated shorts, of which my favourite was El Empleo by Santiago Graso. 

Museum of Dolls

random things I have eaten lately

La Republica de los Ninos

Pretty up there in terms of full on weird places I have visited, this kids theme park is said to have been one of the inspirations for Disneyland. Started in 1949 and opened in 1951, its a large park with both 'urban' and 'rural' areas, a lake, sports areas, a church etc and a rather wonderful Museum of Dolls. Its a 14 peso cab ride from La Plata. 

Festi Freak

The international independent film festival is now underway in La Plata. Its big and expansive and there is no end of screenings. Check out the website: http://festifreak.com.ar

Its all happening at the main cultural centre downtown,  a beautiful old former train station that houses a host of cultural organizations, community spaces, galleries and a municipal cinema etc.

more graffiti and murals...

I'm still totally blown away by the stenciling and murals, I'm trying to document all the ones I come across - here are some current favourites, but there are plenty more to come... I'm thinking there will be an element of stenciling in the show I am going to make but still have to figure out exactly how they do it. There was mention of X-Ray film, so I am certainly missing something...

Visit to the Faculty of Fine Arts

We had a really interesting tour around the Ceramics area at the Faculty of Fine Arts here in La Plata. Class sizes are huge - sometimes up to 70 students in a studio class, but Prof's team teach so the ratio of teacher to student is about the same as in Canada. Education is free and anyone can take classes in Fine Arts so people just do not get turned away. We had a great chat about all sorts of aspects of teaching and the kind of works that the students make. After the introductory technique class, students all work on self-directed projects, primarily making sculptural pieces as galleries will show ceramic work if its 'sculpture' but not if its craft, ie. functional ware. 

Highlight -  some seriously beautiful foot-powered throwing wheels...

Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires

Back from a weekend in Buenos Aires, walking around, getting to know the city. Its huge. The bus from La Plata costs 7 pesos and takes about an hour. Spent a delightful hour in the Recoleta cemetery...