Tour Details
- Duration
- 3 hours
- Product Type
- Tour
- Venues
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- MALBA (Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires)
- Coghlan Neighborhood
Photos & Highlights
- Connect the dots between the traditional Latin American art and vibrant street culture of Buenos Aires
- Led by an artist or art curator
Select a date
Tour Description
While Buenos Aires has long been a hub for traditional Latin American art, the city is currently awash in the vibrant hues and outspoken political protest of street art. Some of the city’s most talented artists have begun treating neighborhoods like open-air galleries, creating free-wheeling murals reflecting both the Argentine creative identity and propensity for political activism. During this 3-hour Buenos Aires Street Art tour led by an expert, we’ll not only explore some of Buenos Aires’ most vivid, thriving corridors for street art, but we’ll also visit MALBA, the city’s best collection of 20th century Latin American art, in order to track how Argentine visual art has progressed from the Belle Epoque to today.
Our walk begins at the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA), a leading institution for modern Latin American art. Since its founding in 2001, MALBA has challenged Eurocentric art narratives, showcasing works by artists like Berni, Kahlo, Rivera, Xul Solar, and more. We’ll explore the museum’s history and dive into key pieces that establish a foundation for understanding Argentine contemporary art, preparing us to explore Buenos Aires’ vibrant street art scene.
Next, we’ll take a taxi to Coghlan, a historic neighborhood transformed into a street art hub thanks to its abundant blank walls. We’ll analyze the creation and ephemeral nature of street art, from spontaneous works to curated murals supported by local initiatives. A highlight is Pirovano Hospital, with its 550 meters of ever-changing murals that reflect shifts in style, politics, and society. We’ll wrap up by exploring the stories of artists—from renowned names to local schoolchildren—and the collaborative efforts between the community and city to make street art a living, evolving canvas.
At the conclusion of our Buenos Aires Street Art Tour, participants will have a deeper understanding of the Latin American perspective in art, from its foundations in the 20th century to today’s laissez-faire street art scene. We’ll discuss the alternative histories of Latin America versus European art history and the various meanings of urban art in Buenos Aires and beyond.
Do we need to purchase our own MALBA tickets? Included in the cost is your entrance ticket to MALBA and the taxi from MALBA to the neighborhood of Coghlan.
Where You'll Start
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22 Reviews
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We loved our tour with Santiago - second of the week, in fact. He’s knowledgeable, kind, smart, insightful and just generally lovely to be around. His English is also brilliant. We found the MALBA tour particularly helpful, as Santi provided compelling context (!!) for both the temporary and permanent exhibitions, which enabled us to enjoy the museum visit much more so than we might have otherwise. He also took the time to show us some amazing mosaic work in the BA subway system, unique to our tour and based on our interest in contemporary mosaic. In short, he went above and beyond and we could not recommend him — and the MALBA and Belles Epoque Architecture tours — more!
Jillian
Dec 22, 2022
Once again we felt fortunate to spend another afternoon with Santiago. We are art history and art museum buffs; we felt his comments at MALBA were insightful and really made us think. We also really enjoyed viewing street art with him in an area where he is part of the art scene. We felt like we gained an appreciation for street art and learned so much about how it’s made, the philosophy behind this art and some of the artists who are doing projects around the world. Santiago even made the cab ride fascinating with a great story and a book showing the work he told us about:)
Nancy
Nov 11, 2022
Santiago was so kind and incredibly considerate and generous with his time and enthusiasm for the subject — a joy and a delight! I am surprised to learn that this is the “least popular” tour — visitors are definitely missing out.
Emily
Nov 27, 2021
