Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires "Hopscotch"

Art Basel Cities: Buenos Aires "Hopscotch"
06.09.2018 - 12.09.2018

‘Hopscotch (Rayuela)’ | Curatorial Statement
‘Hopscotch (Rayuela)’ is a journey through Buenos Aires as seen through the eyes of 18 international and Argentine artists. This public exhibition borrows its name and concept from the experimental 1963 novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar and from the timeless children’s street game popular in many cultures. Like the nonlinear sequence of the book and game, the exhibition hopscotches through the city, offering numerous possible paths through three neighborhoods. The selected artists have realized artworks in close dialog with their venues, shaping a multilayered experience that connects visual art, urban spaces, and the city’s histories in unexpected ways. From site-specific sculptures and experiential installations to live performances and participatory actions, ‘Hopscotch (Rayuela)’ proposes new types of civic and social engagement, weaving individuals and collectivities into innovative modes of coexistence.
Cecilia Alemani

Argentine and international artists participate in a week-long program spanning the city this September

For the Art Basel Cities Week in Buenos Aires from September 6-12, Artistic Director Cecilia Alemani has curated ‘Hopscotch’, a multilayered program that connects the visual arts, urban spaces and the city’s history in unexpected ways. Works realized for the Art Basel Cities Week will infiltrate the fabric of the city, creating new experiences to function as platforms for different encounters with art against the unique background of the city.

Staged across three neighborhoods in the Argentine capital, ‘Hopscotch’ will traverse the city, with site-specific sculptures, experiential installations, and live performances by artists such as Eduardo Basualdo, whose progression of sculptural encounters will be installed along the Rio de la Plata. The title ‘Hopscotch’ borrows its name from the eponymous experimental novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar. ‘As with the book and the game, my art program hopscotches through the city, shaping possible journeys, and different paths through urban space, creating unexpected connections between sites and artworks,’ says Alemani.

One of the highlights of the program is an intervention by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. An experiment in social sculpture, the project, titled ‘Eternity,’ will create a temporary pop-up cemetery in the neighborhood of Palermo for the living, realized in collaboration with hundreds of artists in Buenos Aires. Through an open call, artists and amateurs are invited to design grave- and tombstones for friends and enemies, real individuals or imaginary characters, lovers and haters that are still alive.

Other participating artists will include Pia Camil, Gabriel Chaile, Alex Da Corte, Santiago de Paoli, Narcisa Hirsch, David Horvitz, Leandro Katz, Barbara Kruger, Luciana Lamothe, Ad Minoliti, Eduardo Navarro, Alexandra Pirici, Mika Rottenberg, Mariela Scafati, Vivian Suter, and Stan VanDerBeek.

Alongside ‘Hopscotch’, the Art Basel Cities Week will present a Cultural Partner Program of exhibitions, performances and special events at the city's leading museums, foundations, associations and nonprofit organizations, selected by Alemani. The week will be completed by an extensive talks program focusing on Buenos Aires’ active art scene, including in situ conversations with the artists participating in the program. Art Basel Cities is supported by UBS as Global Lead Partner.