I just started getting into Mutations, a book that I bought a few weeks ago when I was in Chicago.  Javier first found it in the library of the Architectural School at IIT and it was so fascinating that we ended up buying it elsewhere.  It has various contributors, including modern architect Rem Koolhaas with the Harvard Project on the City, Stanford Kwitter and Saskia Sassen.

I browsed through this book for hours at first, looking at the photos and statistics and thinking about how everything in this book relates to everything I learned as an undergraduate student of Anthropology some years back.

And it got me to thinking of some of the large cities that I’ve visited over the years - Hamburg, Paris, Prague, London, New York, San Francisco, Tokyo and Buenos Aires to name a few. I suppose too, that it’s part of my analytical nature to begin to categorize my thoughts on each place I visited and really begin to form an opinion about some of these great cities.  One conclusion that I am beginning to understand is that Tokyo, although a very important, immense and globalized city, is not a very cosmopolitan city at all.

For example, even though the city of Tokyo is the site of many companies who have dispersed their economic activities throughout the world (i.e.: globalized businesses) and imported some non-Japanese people to work in these companies, the population and identity of Japan and particularly Tokyo remains strongly Japanese. Of course, there are products of tourism.  There are a lot of signs in romanji (Japanese using English letters); there are imported goods in the grocery stores; there are a handful of foreign restaurants. The cultural diversity of the city is due mostly to tourism however, as foreigners only make up less than 2% of the population. Equally, maintaining that strong national identity is probably of great help to tourism and their economy.

If all of a sudden, Japan became known as almost American in its ways, my perceived value of a “trip to Japan” would be lowered.  Equally, if they didn’t maintain the global perception that the Japanese themselves are innovators of technology and leaders in this market, there would be a possibility of decreased value of their products.  Yeah, I’m talking possibilities… Tokyo is really global, not in a cosmopolitan sense but in a sense that it’s an important, immense urban city whose economy and innovation has worldwide relevance.

So, if you leave Tokyo and go to the rest of Japan, what do you see? There’s a Japanese culture that exists outside of Tokyo.  It’s a culture influenced with an extraordinarily long history, ancient religions, a government that partially mandates the national identity, multiple environmental issues (including overpopulation and natural disasters such as earthquakes) and the idea of community as a more or less “family”.

In Kyoto which was the capital for several hundred years before Tokyo, we would be stopped at a bus stop or riding along in a bus and someone (usually an older gentleman) would strike up a conversation with us (in English!) asking us where we are from, what we like to do, how is our country, etc.  In Osaka, a much larger city, we found the city center itself immense - and although fewer people spoke English there, (aside from this awesome guy named Bucky that we met in the street asking for directions and he ended up walking with us for several blocks and telling us about Osaka).  We ended eating some fried octopus at one of the best known places for this food in the city.  (Thanks Bucky!)  And then we met up with my friend Yoshi (we knew each other from way back in the day in Chicago) and went out to see great architecture and eat raw chicken (oh yeah, good stuff)!  But in the streets, the (almost Latino) people drive fast and beep their horns and in general, just seemed more relaxed than in Tokyo.  They were easier to connect to - they were more open. But in Osaka, we noted that gringo tourism wasn’t as prevalent as Tokyo, Kyoto, Himeji or Hiroshima.  It’s kind of the forgotten city - and certainly my favorite of all in Japan.

Ok - that’s it on Japan.  Back to Buenos Aires.

One of the most modern and free forms of art that many societies share is graffiti. I used to love being stuck at train crossings in Chicago because inevitably, you would see some wonderful messages or pictures - sometimes really amazing “traveling galleries” passing in front of you while you sat on your bike or in your car. Even walking down the streets, there would be wonderful murals on the walls - paintings of influential individuals or whatever expression that the artist felt was important to share with the world at the time. And the artist does put the time and effort into the work, knowing full well that it lasts only for a limited amount of time.

A few months ago, I spoke to an artist from Chicago who started a conversation telling me how “wonderfully clean” Chicago is now - “clean” of graffiti -where if someone sees graffiti, they can call a public service number for them to send a truck out to blast it with a powerful water based cleanser - leaving the ghost of the fading art behind. And to be honest with you - that really saddens me.

Here in Buenos Aires - I love the graffiti - someone’s expression on every street corner - sometimes whimsical and others thought provoking - it’s a refreshing visual interruption to our daily routine.

A few years ago, the Guardian wrote an article about the cultural importance of graffiti as the city of Melbourne, Australia was starting an anti-graffiti campaign to “clean up” for the Commonwealth Games held there a few years back. The author notes, “Modern street art is the product of a generation tired of growing up with a relentless barrage of logos and images being thrown at their head every day, and much of it is an attempt to pick up these visual rocks and throw them back”.

Here in Buenos Aires it’s common to see ones own personal logos such as “Carne Argentina” or political views “Fuera Bush” and recently the shameless plugs of the American Express’ “blue” campaign plastered every ten feet on walls throughout Palermo. Throughout Palermo Hollywood and Colegiales, there are some fantastic comics that surround the parks and along various residential streets. Mostly, it’s an important source of cultural produce and a reflection of the intellectual climate of the time - which is, logically, temporal - and very modern at the same time.

Check out BluBlu’s work in one of his more recent short films using graffiti and stop motion technology filmed in Buenos Aires recently.

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

Title: arteBA
Location: La Rural
Description: Contemporary Art Fair - epicenter of Latin American art with guest appearances, lectures and of course, art art art.
Start Date: 2008-05-29
Start Time: 13:00
End Date: 2008-06-02