Punta del Este: art and culture events are the real boom of summer 2022
Despite the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, Punta del Este lives a great season In the midst of the pandemic and the tourists, who last summer could not enter the Uruguayan resort due to the closure of the borders, they enjoy its natural beauty but also its traditional social life.
Without the classic parties of the big brands and with few events, the boom of summer 2022 begins at 6:00 p.m. The appointment is at sunset, when culture and art seem to hatch between the bubbles in the glasses of champagne and the guests who get out of their cars dressed in cocktails.
Many rush out of the beach because they know that this is a summer without the classic eastern meals, which end with pure dancing in the wee hours of the morning. So, at sunset time, they begin a rich cultural journey through the large number of events dedicated to art, which are the true star of this summer and with a key fact: once they have been inaugurated, most are open and free access .
The season of artistic and cultural events began with the inauguration of Walden Naturae , an exclusive art gallery directed by Ricardo Ocampo , founder and director of Walden Gallery . It is located in Pueblo Garzón and began to warm up its engines with nothing less than the fabulous exhibition of the plastic artist, Marcia Schvartz .
The new gallery seeks to revalue the Garzón area, with cultural initiatives and a great commitment to its natural environment. It has an annual program that combines historical and contemporary exhibitions in all disciplines and media, in its own space of 500 square meters. In addition, permanent exchange between artists of different generations is encouraged and it has an important annual calendar of exhibitions.
During the exclusive Walden Naturae presentation cocktail, which was organized by PR Wally Diamante , prominent personalities from the world of art and culture gathered, such as Alan Faena , Jorge Telerman, Cynthia Cohen, Armando Bó, Mariana Obersztern, Julia Converti , Andrea Schvartz and Vicente Grondona , among others.
At the end of 2021, the collector Amalia Amoedo presented the "Ama Amoedo Artistic Residence Foundation" (FAARA), a residency program for artists . Its objective is to help in a lasting and sustained way the ecosystem of Latin American art, expanding its visibility throughout the world. The foundation seeks to formalize the actions that Amalia has been carrying out for more than two decades.
FAARA offers Latin American artists various avenues to develop and enrich their creative practices. It is a residence whose purpose is to provide a space for research, work and creative reflection, in the form of a retreat in nature for six weeks in José Ignacio.
The iconic plastic artist, Blanca Isabel Álvarez de Toledo -who was also a model for Pierre Cardin, made a trip to India with The Beatles and participated with her first husband, Nicolás García Uriburu, in the historic coloring of the canals of Venice and in the first manifestations of Land Art- he showed off with the presentation of " The Adventure of Silence ". The exhibition brought together more than 30 oil paintings painted on her return from her last trip to China and India, in which a simple palette with large background areas and a technique characteristic of enamel painting predominate. Full, expressive and highly chromatic.
The presentation event brought together more than 200 VIP guests, such as Magdalena Ruíz de Reyes, Ester Vello, Diana Leoni, Azul García Uriburu (daughter of Blanca Isabel Álvarez de Toledo and Nicolás García Uriburu) and her husband Marcos Pereda, Paola Marzotto, the Countess Angélica Ríos de Robien and Guzmán Artagaveytia, owner of La Huella; the lawyer Carlos Ruiz Lapuente; the architect Carolina Pedroni and the photographer Roberto Riverti, among many others.
“ This exhibition closes a circle of my life, because the current owners invited me to a place that is dear to me: Aguaverde, a place that we bought with Nicolás (García Uriburu) when he was barely 21 years old and that today welcomes me for this fantastic exhibition. ”, Blanca Isabel expressed with great emotion, from what was her home, today converted into an exclusive inn and wine lodge.
It should be noted that in the 1990s, the artist created the Academia del Sur in La Barra, a postgraduate institute oriented to literature and contemporary thought, in which courses and intellectual seminars of enormous recognition and trajectory were given both in America and in Europe.
Este Arte is the international contemporary art fair in Punta del Este, a benchmark cultural event where the system meets, exchanges ideas and prospers. From January 4 to 8, its eighth edition was held at the Punta del Este Convention Center , resuming face-to-face activity to meet again with the public, galleries, artists, collectors, and lovers of culture and the art. The 2022 edition was focused on regional art and had an impressive influx of public, who celebrated once again to go through its corridors filled with works of art by prestigious national and international artists.
Another important artistic and cultural event was inaugurated on tin soil with the pharaonic work of the great 78-year-old American artist, James Turrell , who was summoned by the owners of Posada Ayana, in José Ignacio, to carry out the imposing, Ta Khut . His name means "The Light" in ancient Egyptian. It is a truncated pyramid with a dome made of 42,000 kilos of pure Italian marble and 30 tons of steel, as well as granite and cement.
The owners of Posada Ayana, Robert and Edda Kofler belong to one of the wealthiest Austrian families in the world who, on their first visit to José Ignacio, were fascinated by its beauty and wanted to put down roots. For this reason, they decided to convene the great Turrell , who since the 1970s has been known worldwide for his skyspaces: a series of closed spaces but with openings in the ceiling, which allow direct contact with the sky. Thus, the artist took it upon himself to make a precise and synchronized game of lights and colors inspired by the Uruguayan sky, but that each viewer perceives in a different way.
Also, the prestigious Argentine plastic artist, Nicola Costantino , shone in Punta del Este and presented in Espacio Foto Arte , in Altos de Punta Piedras, a collection of works with objects, photographs and ceramic plates made with the “neriage nerikomi” technique. In addition, he exhibited for the first time in the Uruguayan spa his works from the Chambi series, The portraits of Colodion and The Garden of Earthly Delights , made with a very old and complex technique of photography.
Espacio Foto Arte , created by the architect Carolina Pedroni and the photographer Roberto Riverti , has a program of exhibitions of contemporary photography in the framework of which Gabriel Valansi was introduced, who excelled with a critical investigation of violence as an object of contemporary contemplative fascination.
With a great vernissage, the artist from Mendoza, Azul Caverna , presented his exhibition "Landscape of a detour" at the Paseo Gallery in Manantiales , under the curatorship of Mariana Rodríguez Iglesias. Caverna has already exhibited his works in several editions of arteBA, at PARC and at ArtLima, in addition to having participated in numerous individual and group shows.
Last week, Nicolás Guanigni , the Argentine artist who shines in New York, inaugurated his first exhibition at Walden Naturae , in Pueblo Garzón, which can be visited until February 3. From the confinement caused by COVID-19, he developed a series of drawings of figures in profile emitting air . The virus is thus thematized as a discourse, as an infection, as an aesthetic element.
The first paintings in that series were presented by Walden Naturae at the Art Basel OVR, in 2020. Guanigni took four of these figures to large format, themed as the four seasons, unwittingly prefiguring the endemic nature of the pandemic. In that same gallery, located on Calle de los Cerrillos and Pasaje del Faro, the artists Cristina Schiavi and Oscar Bony will also perform.
Despite the fact that there is still a lot of summer ahead, the 2022 season continues to offer more cultural and art events, several already scheduled but many others that are organized on the fly. Therefore, it is important to be attentive so as not to miss any.
Finally, and as a finishing touch, a few days ago the President of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou , attended with his wife, Lorena Ponce de León , the imposing opening of the Atchugarry Museum of Contemporary Art (MACA). Its fabulous construction was designed by the Uruguayan sculptor, Pablo Atchugarry , and designed by the Uruguayan architect, Carlos Ott. It took three years of work, but today it represents Atchugarry's dream come true: show the art of their country nationally and internationally.
It is a construction of more than 40 hectares, which became an imposing center of contemporary art in Manantiales. It opened its doors with the anthological exhibition “Christo & Jeanne Claude in Uruguay” , made up of more than 50 works by the deceased Bulgarian artist and his wife, great friends of Atchugarry.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by President Luis Lacalle, Pou , and his wife, Lorena Ponce de León , who participated in the ribbon cutting along with former presidents Julio María Sanguinetti and José “Pepe” Mujica , who arrived with his wife , Senator Lucia Topolansky .
In addition, the Vice President of Uruguay, Beatriz Argimón ; Foreign Minister Francisco Bustillo ; the mayor of Maldonado, Enrique Antía ; the Secretary of the Presidency, Álvaro Delgado ; the interim chancellor, Carolina Ache Batlle ; the French ambassador to Uruguay, Jean-Paul Seytre ; the Uruguayan ambassador to Argentina, Carlos Enciso Christensen ; and the minister of that embassy, José Reyes .
MACA stands on the same land as the Atchugarry Foundation, which the sculptor founded in 2007 to promote Uruguayan art and culture. Today, houses the Atchugarry family collection, which includes more than five hundred pieces, including works by Wifredo Lam, Vik Muniz, Louise Nevelson, Frank Stella and Joaquín Torres-García, among others, but also exhibits the first sculpture in marble by the Uruguayan sculptor, made in 1979.
One of the objectives of this great art center is to exhibit works on long-term loan from private collections in Uruguay, Latin America and Europe, and the creation of an acquisitions committee. MACA is financed privately and through donations. Its objective is to attract international visitors to promote Uruguayan art, in contrast to the more traditional museums in Montevideo, which tend to attract mostly local audiences. Entrance is free and open.
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