Hey everyone! Sorry that it’s been so long since my last post…I never want to take a break from running around Buenos Aires to reflect! So, I’m going to try to cram in a few of my adventures in this post to catch up.

I didn’t know this before I came here, but Buenos Aires is home to a world-renowned circus-type show entitled Fuerza Bruta (“brute force” translated). Since its creation in 2005, this “post-modern theatre show,” as it’s described, has spread to major cities around the world, including our very own NYC! Its goal is to encourage interaction between the performers and the audience, creating a unique experience each time. The best way I can describe it is a demented version of Cirque de Soleil. The show went something like this: they packed all of us in a fairly small room and we stood as the acrobats circled around us, screaming, chanting, singing, banging drums, and doing flips in the air–it’s crazy! Throughout the show, seizure-inducing lights danced around the constantly changing canvasses, making me feel like I was in another dimension. The performers got up close and personal, encouraging us to join them in exploring our own “brute” sides. My description doesn’t do it justice, but it was one of the most intriguing experiences that I’ve had in Argentina so far–definitely a must-see in B.A.

Besides that incredibly insane show, I’ve been exploring some other cultural hubs around Buenos Aires. One of these is the MALBA, or the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires. It’s pretty small, but it currently has a really interesting exhibition by Le Parc Lumière, a French artist. An inventive thinker, he wanted to create art that wasn’t static. He wanted his art to evolve and breathe. Thus, he put together an exhibit that plays with lights and glass (picture and video below). The piece consists of a dark room with lights from every angle reflecting off of different pieces of glass. It was kind of like an out-of-body experience; I was mesmerized, like a child during her first snowstorm. It’s amazing how something so simple can be so thought provoking.

Another museum I visited with my anthropology class is the Museo de la Plata, which is a natural history museum filled with fossils and indigenous relics. We’ve been learning about the founder, Francisco Moreno, and his controversial collection of native human remains. He used to display the skeletons of hundreds of indigenous people throughout the museum, but a fairly new law forced the museum to remove this part of the collection and guard them in another room that’s closed to the public. Now, the museum has become a taxidermy showcase. It’s interesting to see such a variation of creatures all in one place, but throughout the whole visit, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I had stumbled into someone’s creepy basement and discovered their secret fetish. There were dinosaur bones, stuffed birds, preserved insects, and even one human mummy still on display. It appeared outdated, but that was part of its “charm,” I suppose. It definitely served as a stark contrast to the sleek and modern MALBA.

As you can gather from reading this, Buenos Aires is an eclectic city that never sleeps, so I have the privilege of discovering a new side every week. It’s incredible. There’s much to come ahead, including my first writing assignment for my internship at the Buenos Aires Herald.  Stay tuned!
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Location: Recoleta, MALBA, Museo de la Plata