Migrant Culture

At the beginning of the last century, Argentina expanded its population with the arrival of a massive wave of European migrants. However, in the last 20 years the majority of the migrants' territory of origin has changed. Today, they are primarily coming from neighboring countries, which has given rise to the emergence of a thriving hybrid Latin American culture. These migrants are creating new models that question the established status quo and they are becoming the designers of new architectural and social typologies for public spaces.

The Architectural Association Visiting School in Buenos Aires conducted a workshop called "Migration Culture" to explore and revalue the relationship between migration and local and imported resources. The principal objective of this collective experience was to imagine a more complex and inclusive society nourished by the cultural diversity generated by the migrants.

Many minority groups that have arrived in Buenos Aires in the past few years are the direct product of forced migration due to economic or climatic conditions. These groups find and create new communities through collaboration, and ceasing to be minorities, they enhance their knowledge and cultural wealth by constructing a new political and social multiculturalism.

The main reason there has been such a large migration to Argentina is its extensive frontier with various countries: Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil, and Uruguay. The principal motivation is the need for the newcomers to enter labor markets that offer better opportunities than those of their place of origin. Argentina offers flexibility for entry and residence. It doesn't require visas or return tickets for those entering the country, so it's easier to think about starting a new life there. The highest percentage of migration is found in Buenos Aires, primarily in construction and the manufacturing and service industries, where there is higher pay than in rural areas.

In general, they don’t always have fixed jobs and instead, many develop work on the street or in an itinerant way. This lack of income stability—a product of informality—is one of the main reasons for poverty to be higher among the migrant communities. Moreover, the lack of regulation makes migrants settle for more precarious living conditions than locals resulting in social vulnerability and their overrepresentation in the "villas," which are informal urban settlements lacking essential services.

"Migration Culture" aimed to emphasize the richness of introducing such migratory groups into the culture of Buenos Aires with the two-week workshop. Through an intense public program with local migrant guides, we visited several case studies working as a collaborative curation team exploring three main categories of inherited resources from migration: food, music, and labor skills.

In addition to the fieldwork, the program included lectures and a design laboratory, which took place in one of the ateliers of the emblematic and recently restored "Casa de Estudios para Artistas," designed by Antonio Bonet, Horacio Vera Ramos, and Abel López Chas in 1938-39. Working with mixed-media such as films, interviews, and material experimentation, we engaged in a process of back-and-forth critical thinking.

Our beautiful atelier became the place to meet, discuss, assess, and edit the content from our findings during the daily excursions. To produce two final pieces, we categorized these discoveries according to color, architecture, human interaction, and textiles. On the one hand, we worked both digitally and physically to produce a film about the intersection between European and African migration in Argentina featuring music such as tango and candombe entitled "Cross Paths."

On the other hand, by working with local textile artists, we created a ceremonial altarpiece inspired by the traditional Latin American goddess of the Earth: Pachamama. During our final exhibition it was used for a closing performance, and led by local guide Rosalia, the audience placed symbolic offerings on the altar along with music and food. This experience of gathering together reinforced our understanding about how our shared love for the land, our ancestors and peers, and our natural resources, can be discovered in this part of the world.

The Architectural Association will continue the exploration of migrant culture in Buenos Aires through future workshops, which will be focused on defining and articulating an emerging hybrid Latin American identity.

Main Image: Casa de Estudios para Artistas by Bonet Castellana, Vera Barros, López, 1938-39. At present Galería y Residencia de Arquitectura of Bisman Ediciones, restoration project by Bisman, Engelman, Ferrando. Photo © Albano García