The Tango-L mailing list archive
Digest from 3 Mar 2000
to 4 Mar 2000
Reply-To: Discussion of Any Aspect of the Argentine Tango <TANGO-L @MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
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Subject: TANGO-L Digest - 3 Mar 2000 to 4 Mar 2000 (#2000-61)
There are 5 messages totalling 395 lines in this issue.
Topics of the day:
1. NY Times Review: Old Buenos Aires, Brave New World
2. Buenos Aires exhibition
3. cemetary humor
4. GOMINA
5. Gomina
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Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 11:10:58 -0500
From: Richard Lipkin <ezie @EROLS.COM>
Subject: NY Times Review: Old Buenos Aires, Brave New World
There is an exhibit of ca. 1910 photographs of Buenos Aires currently on
view at the World Financial Center in New York.
Check the spectacular review of this show in today's New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/yr/mo/day/news/arts/muschamp-art-notebook.html
I'm not sure if the link works but you can find the review by exploring
the Living or Arts sections.
In the printed version of the review, there are several photographs of
Buenos Aires that are not in the on-line version; but the best picture,
of men dancing at the Loria Market fortunately is.
Richard
http://users.erols.com/ezie/
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 12:24:55 -0500
From: Nitin Kibe <nkibe @WORLDBANK.ORG>
Subject: Buenos Aires exhibition
A nice piece (five screens long, though, you are warned) on an exhibit=
ion on
Buenos Aires from the New York Times,
with other
comments on the side: tango, urban homogenisation, etc. I saw the exhi=
bition
(it was on at the World
Bank here in Washington DC some months ago) but, truth be told, I foun=
d this
writeup more interesting.
Bs As bound fortunates may find the piece useful in a context setting =
way.
Good wishes.
Nitin Kibe
*******************************
March 3, 2000
CRITIC'S NOTEBOOK
Old Buenos Aires, Brave New World
By HERBERT MUSCHAMP
Buenos Aires 1910: Memories of the World to Come" is the latest ripple =
in a wave
that has been undulating through art,
architecture and entertainment for almost a generation: the rise of th=
e City as
an icon for cultural globalization. In
museum shows, scholarly books and MTV dance marathons, not to mention t=
ourism
promotions, individual cities
are being recast as the neighborhoods of one vast cosmopolitan conditio=
n. Images
of Moscow, New York, Prague,
Bras=EDlia, Berlin, Vienna, Lisbon, Chicago, Havana, Dublin, Lagos, Ma=
cao,
Barcelona and others are converging like
segments of an ever-expanding Baedeker map. The Buenos Aires show, on v=
iew at
the World Financial Center, adds
a few new folds.
First presented last year in Buenos Aires, the show was organized by Ma=
rgarita
Gutman, a professor of urban
history at the University of Buenos Aires, in association with the Get=
ty
Research Institute for the History of Art and
the Humanities. Incorporating more than 500 photographs, drawings, map=
s and
miscellaneous ephemera, "Buenos Aires
1910" documents one of the 20th century's most dramatic stories of urba=
n growth.
In 1910, Argentina staged a massive
nationwide celebration to honor the centenary of its independence from =
Spain.
The modernization of the capital city was
the main focus of the event. Architects and engineers drew up extensiv=
e plans
-- some practical, others fantastic -- to guide
Buenos Aires into the future. The remaining vestiges of colonialism wer=
e to be
cast aside as the city remade itself in the
image of a modern cosmopolis.
In 1895, 15 years after Buenos Aires became Argentina's capital, the ci=
ty's
population was 663,000. Today, the
metropolitan region is home to 12 million souls. The pivot for this exp=
losive
growth was 1910, a moment when
the city gave itself permission to face the future. Like the 19th-centu=
ry
industrial cities in Europe and the United
States, Buenos Aires confronted the need for physical expansion beyond =
a dense
historical core. Local opinion was
divided over what form the expansion should take. One group favored a g=
rid of
straight streets. Another faction fought
for diagonal avenues.
In 1909, the government adopted the Centennial Plan, devised by Joseph =
M.
Bouvard, chief of public works in Paris.
Incorporating a grid overlaid with diagonals, like Pierre L'Enfant's pl=
an for
Washington, Bouvard's plan was arranged in
the form of a fan, with the Plata River port lying at the handle end of=
the
design. The diagonal avenues radiated inland
from the riverfront, which is in the southwest corner of the city. In e=
ffect,
the plan was a microcosm of the entire country,
with the port occupying the position of Buenos Aires on the map. Only p=
ortions
of this plan were realized.
Drawings and photographs of public spaces and transportation infrastruc=
ture make
up the core of the show. Massive
new bridges, a subway system, parks, avenues and highways, along with i=
ndustrial
fairs dedicated to the cars that would
use them: these feats of engineering, landscape and industry laid down=
the
capital's connective tissue. Examples of
iron fabrication, like the hulking black piers of the Nicol=E1s Avella=
neda
transport bridge, were permanent versions of
the scaffolding that covered much of Buenos Aires in 1910, when the cit=
y was an
immense construction site.
In counterpoint to the city's mostly horizontal infrastructure, the sho=
w
presents a series of images that point the way
toward the development of Buenos Aires as a vertical city. Elevated hig=
hways,
train viaducts, airplane and balloon
corridors are layered above the streets to serve the city as its buildi=
ngs
increased in height. One particularly
imaginative plan published in a leading newspaper depicts an elevated =
train in
the form of a roller coaster ride that
soars and dips precariously over the roofline.
Like the fantastic renderings of New York in the same era, these pictur=
es lie
halfway between architecture and
advertising. They are posters in a campaign to promote an image of pro=
gress as
yet unsullied by the social upheaval
and environmental degradation that technology would bring in its wake.=
The new
Buenos Aires was to be more than
a symbol of national pride. It represented a bid for membership in the
international community of advanced industrial
production. In effect, the city became a permanent world's fair, dedica=
ted to
international trade. As one writer observes
in the show's impressive catalog, the city was the country's calling c=
ard on
the world stage.
Photographs of the centennial events are among the show's most captivat=
ing
images. Anticipating the rise of the
theme park metropolis, they depict the citizens surging through streets=
adorned
with banners and festive lighting, as if
they were a grand opera chorus. Other sections of the show document mo=
re
ephemeral forms of the urban spectacle. Pop
songs. Newspapers.
Centennial souvenirs. Nightclubs. Cafes. An appearance by Halley's come=
t. And
that rousingly theatrical vision of stylized
sex, the tango, a dance that has done infinitely more than architectur=
e to
broadcast the idea of Buenos Aires abroad.
In 1910, it took two men to tango. The show is somewhat coy about this =
social
arrangement. We are shown a provocative
picture of male couples dancing, big bruisers dressed in butchers' apr=
ons. But
we are not told why a dance considered
too racy for women to perform in public would be acceptable when dance=
d by men.
We can speculate about the reasons,
but it would be useful to have the phenomenon explained. How a culture=
handles
dualisms in one area of life can shed
light on others. It took two to design Buenos Aires, too, as we see in=
the
implicit dichotomies between architecture and
engineering, vertical and horizontal, the grid and the diagonal plans.
Tucked away toward the rear of the show is a section on social conflict=
,
featuring pictures of striking workers, brandished
copies of left-wing newspapers and an anarchist bomb explosion at the =
grand
Teatro Col=F3n in 1910. The section illustrates
the severity of political oppression during the centennial events. The =
creation
of an industrial society was contingent on the
fear provoked by censorship, mass arrests and other police operations.=
The
classical order of Beaux-Arts architecture
represented the unattainable ideal of a society torn apart by its prog=
ressive
ambitions.
Craig Hodgetts and Ming Fung, two architects based in Los Angeles, desi=
gned the
show's installation for its original
presentation in Buenos Aires last year. Their design's handsome metal a=
rmature
has been retained for New York, but
the show's setting is otherwise disagreeable. The presentation has been=
split in
two. One half is installed on the northern
pedestrian bridge of the World Financial Center, the other on a balcon=
y-level
gallery adjacent to Cesar Pelli's Winter Garden.
This arrangement creates problems with continuity and access. In additi=
on, the
bridge is in the midst of a remodeling.
The gallery looks like an afterthought to the restaurant court below. I=
t is
disheartening that New York cannot provide a
more receptive venue for such an intelligent exhibition.
There are, however, lessons to be gained from contrasting the show to i=
ts
surroundings. The appeal of City shows like
this one lies in their representation of cultural difference. The messa=
ge at the
World Financial Center, by contrast, is
homogenization. With its corporate architecture, mall-like shops and
airport-style eating spots, the Winter Garden is
Manhattan's foremost example of the monoculture, the prefabricated envi=
ronment
brought into being by mass tourism,
business travel and industrial standardization. The retro design of Bat=
tery Park
City's apartment buildings adds to the
theme park effect.
In this alien setting, visitors are unintentionally prompted to see the=
growth
of Buenos Aires as symptomatic of the
monoculture's industrial roots. Although the city tried to shed its co=
lonial
image, it packaged its future in a Beaux-Arts
image. This was the image pursued by many European and American cities =
in the
late 19th century. It was, by design,
an international style. Difference mattered less than similarity. All t=
he
calling cards were printed in the same cursive script.
It is not that big a stretch from this way of thinking to the outlook e=
mbodied
at the World Financial Center, which is
essentially an airport without planes. In this complex of buildings des=
igned by
Mr. Pelli (a native of Argentina,
coincidentally), the Beaux-Arts model has been run through an edge-city=
processor. The place offers the illusion of
public space within a high-security environment patrolled by private gu=
ards.
This context puts a sinister spin on the use of urban history to enrich=
the
promise of cultural globalization. The tendency
today is to look at the emerging global culture in optimistic terms. M=
any of us
look forward to a time that will respect
cultural difference, a time when the West will surrender its colonial i=
nsistence
on judging other civilizations according
to our terms. Ideally, shows like "Buenos Aires 1910" should support g=
lobal
diversity.
It could be, however, that shows like this are just diversions from the=
homogenization of everything urban. At the World
Financial Center (home of American Express), we stand on the brink of =
a time
when older urban centers have themselves
become edge cities, providing hotel rooms, work stations, duty-free sho=
pping and
"authentic" historical entertainment.
Urban populations, meanwhile, are transformed into the Mickeys, Minnies=
, Snow
Whites and Goofys of their hometowns.
Airplanes may not fly through the streets, as envisioned by the archite=
cts of
Buenos Aires, but entire cities may be
reduced to picturesque service centers for air carrier hubs. In fact, t=
he
consortium Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 is
credited as national benefactor for the New York presentation of this f=
ine
traveling show.
``Buenos Aires 1910: Memories of the World to Come'' is at the World Fi=
nancial
Center, Courtyard Gallery and
North Bridge, 225 Vesey Street, Lower Manhattan, through March 26. In
conjunction with the exhibition, there will be
free performances celebrating Argentina's music, dance, literature and=
cultural
heritage. Information: (212)945-0505.
=
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 22:03:59 EST
From: Timothy Pogros <TimmyTango @AOL.COM>
Subject: cemetary humor
Very soon a lot of you will be on your way to BsAs for CITA, some your first
visit.
When you have some free time, one place you must see, is the cemetery,
Rigaletto.
When your there, don't do what many people do. There won't be signs pointing
the way, so when you ask a grounds keeper for directions, ask for directions
to the crypt of Eva Perone, not Madonna.
Enjoy your visit to BsAs, and CITA
Timmy
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 07:58:27 -0500
From: "Ingle, Nancy" <ningle @RHS.BREVARD.K12.FL.US>
Subject: GOMINA
Wouldn't "Dippity Do" accomplish the same thing? Is it still
available?
Nancy
Date: Fri, 3 Mar 2000 08:26:32 -0800
From: Al & Barbara <batango @SLIP.NET>
Subject: Re: Gomina
Dear Ann (Anton?) & List,
The most popular brand of gomina among tango dancers in Argentina is
said to be Lord Chesaline. Miguel Zotto told us that he had contacted the
company once to see if he could make a deal since he uses practically an
entire tube every night he performs. They didn't go for it (probably a
mistake on their part). !Ojo! Hearsay.
I don't believe Lord Chesaline is available outside of Argentina.
Abrazos, Barbara
End of TANGO-L Digest - 3 Mar 2000 to 4 Mar 2000 (#2000-61)
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