Some of Latin America’s most creative minds have flocked to the Argentine capital to show off their latest innovations in the arts of industrial and product design.

Until Sunday 26th May, the city of Buenos Aires will host the third annual Feria Puro Diseño, attracting hundreds of designers and vendors to debut their work amongst peers and marvelling design fans.

Organisers of the fair say that it “represents the final result of the training, experience, and experimentation” for many designers who work year-round in preparation for the festival. The event not only offers a space for designers to present and sell new inventions and sleek revisions of everyday objects, but also a meeting place in which creative thinkers can express their ideas and experiences as regards product design and challenges of making it in the fields of art and design.

The showcase is the region’s most important design fair, and since its debut in 2011 has brought in over 100,000 visitors each time.

The Indy checked out the affair when doors opened on Tuesday. And, as anticipated, we found that this year’s event is another powerfully diverse and colourful conglomeration of an unimaginable variety of cleverly designed items. Over 300 stands are on exhibit at the ongoing festival, divided into categories: small objects, features, gourmet, clothing, accessories, jewellery, kids’, and representations from different Argentine provinces.

Although fashion designers and stands featuring clothing boutiques are not lacking at the event, they are outnumbered and overshadowed by the plethora of distinctive product designers exhibiting everything from modern furniture to one-of-a-kind ink stamps; from chic pet beds to the ambiguous category of objects referred to as ‘gifts’.

This year, the Feria Puro Diseño is adhering to the general theme of ‘connecting with design’, encouraging guests to come to the fair and experience first-hand some of the latest trends in product design. In the spirit of accessing and relating to design, a series of ‘real connections’, or mini-conferences, will be held throughout the festival for budding designers and fans. Upcoming topics include designing global brands in localised contexts and selling products online.

Several governmental offices are also taking part in this year’s festivities. For example, the Ministry of Social Development is showcasing several product developers whose works comprise a part of larger environmental and social causes like textile recycling, micro financing in rural communities, and gardening for kids in the city. The office aims to foment social responsibility and awareness of pressing issues by uplifting socially conscious designers.

Other participants include gourmet food and coffee vendors and representatives from local art and design schools.

As The Indy browsed through the endless tables of original, unique works on the opening day of the design fair, a couple of locales grabbed our attention.

First off was the impressive array of eccentric furniture and alternative storage spaces that designers had on display, most often either juxtaposing traditional materials in pieces with a modern design or new-age resources with conventional forms. And then there were the pieces that combined both alternative materials with new designs, like an artistically shaped table made of wood from salvaged wine barrels by Carlos Obregón and a translucent pillowcase branded with a philosophical quote about dreams and filled with sawdust, presented by the INTI Observatorio de Tendencias.

One such object designer was ‘brick’ creator Clara Wall. Along with her business partner, Wall builds storage pieces that resemble the shape of a cement block -rectangular with two square openings in the middle. Wall’s pieces are constructed several times larger than actual cement blocks and are covered in fabric for home storage. The designer-entrepreneur explained that the idea is to repeat the figure of the functional and decorative pieces and offer different coverings to match distinctive tastes.

Another highlight at the Feria Puro Diseño is the socially conscious work of cartonero cooperative Amanecer de los Cartoneros. The cooperative is part of the Movimiento de Trabajadores Excluidos (MTE) of the greater Confederación de Trabajadores de la Economia Popular (CTEP) and works with groups of urban recyclers throughout Latin America.

The organisation of cartoneros crafts household objects – like lampshades, stools, and toys – solely from recycled cardboard. Cooperative leader Sergio Sánchez said that the group creates these new products so that the discarded material might be revived to serve a new purpose. The endeavour is also meaningful for the cartoneros who gather materials, design, and create the objects in what Sánchez describes as a project which “for our cartonero family … is really one of social inclusion and a way in which we can move forward.” Amanecer de los Cartoneros hopes that the project will evolve into a fulltime business in the future and aims to pass on everything its members have learned, from design techniques to business strategy, to the younger recyclers.

A final standout design group at this year’s fair is Omnipresentes, a group of young creators who give everyday items an interesting twist. This Argentine design team envisions a product concept, draws up a design, and follows production through to the end. According to group member Franco Rivero, product ideas (like their specially-designed key that opens beer bottles and coffee mug that covers the drinker’s nose with a ceramic pig snout) develop by brainstorming alternative ways for solving everyday tasks in a clever manner. Omnipresentes sees everyday objects as something that can “provide your daily dose of creativity,” and aims to surprise consumers “day to day – by moving you, stealing a smile, or simply grabbing your attention.”

Many more talented industrial and product designers have set up shop at the event, showcasing everything from exquisite and refined household items to silly and rather kitschy random objects -all of which offer some sort of distinguishing flair.

The Feria Puro Diseño runs from 21-26th May between 1pm-10pm. The fair is located at La Rural exhibition hall at Av. Sarmiento 2704 near Plaza Italia. Entrance is $35. For more information visit the website, email info@feriapurodiseno.com.ar, or call +54-11 4346-0155.

 

The 39th annual Buenos Aires international Feria del Libro kicked off last Thursday, 25th April, and so far has not disappointed. Attractions brought in thousands of spectators to listen to authors present newly published works, enjoy cultural demonstrations and exhibits from all around the country and the world, and of course to wander through an incredibly expansive array of books.

The Feria del Libro is known as the most important annual literary event in the Spanish-speaking world. Each year, more than one million visitors come to participate in the Buenos Aires book fair over its three-week span, including more than 10,000 literary professionals. Every year the fair hosts outstanding authors, like Ray Bradbury and Isabel Allende, who have attended the event in years past.

This year’s book fair is comprised of about 400 stands categorised and divided into seven pavilions on over 45,000 meters of the enormous convention centre grounds at the Plaza Italia in Palermo. Various publishers, stores, editorial groups, and organisations run the stands, as do representatives from different areas of Argentina who are present to offer local information and printed materials to visitors in the nation’s capital.

Fair-goers can meander through the mazes of people, exhibits, and presentations to browse through tables of books on topics ranging from pressing social issues to science fiction to celebrity gossip– with the guidance a map of the fair, of course. The set up is so colossal that it would be overwhelming without the provision of eight information desks, a well-diagrammed map, and detailed schedule leaflet (and even so is a bit disorienting once you get lost reading the backs of too many covers).

The Indy set out to explore the Feria del Libro this Sunday and checked out some of the event’s main attractions. Besides the beautiful discovery that mini-coffee shops sprung up around nearly every corner of the fair, one of our favourite spots was the Ocre Pavilion. This hall houses exhibitions from Jujuy, Salta, Misiones, and other Argentine provinces with impressive displays that offer a taste of some of the country’s different cultures (literally through food samples and literarily by offering local publications and information).

The Ocre Pavilion hosts international booths– including a striking photo exhibit of people on the streets of Amsterdam, aerial views of the European city, and stunning portraits. The hall also accommodates admirably built larger-than-life stands manned by organisations and corporations.

Another main attraction of the Feria del Libro is its program of activities– particularly the presentations of recently published works done by authors, compilers, editors, etc in the other pavilions.

One particularly interesting presentation on was of ‘Desarrollo y derechos de las mujeres: su participación y liderazgo en organizaciones comunitarias’ (‘Development and Rights for Women: Their Participation and Leadership in Community Organisations’) compiled by Nuria Pena, Brenda Pereyra, and Verónica Soria.

The work is a compilation of theoretical framework and real world cases of female leadership in Argentine community organisations. It addresses questions about the significance of female dominance in leadership of such civil organisations and makes visible the fearless work of several of these leaders within grander socio-political contexts. The presenters of the work emphasised its importance in breaking with European and United States feminism that often only appeals to white, middle class, “first-world” supporters and in defining its own space within a form of Latin American feminism and by planting provocative debate.

More than book presentations, the fair also offers different sorts of workshops on a broad range of topics including art and fostering creativity, children’s activities, teaching techniques, etc. All in all, the Feria del Libro offers over 1,000 literary events each April.

There are also food vendors posted throughout the space and kids’ areas with games, shows, reading activities, and photo opportunities.

This year’s Feria del Libro is open Monday-Thursday from 2pm-9pm, Fridays from 2pm-10pm, Saturdays from 1pm-10pm, and Sundays from 1pm-9pm until Monday, 13th May. General entry is $20 on weekdays and $30 on weekends and feriados. For more information, visit the website or Facebook page.

La Rural, Buenos Aires’ biggest exhibition centre, once belonged to the state but was sold to private hands by president Carlos Menem in 1991 for US$30 million. In 2010, a court ruled on the property’s real value and determined it was worth at least US$131 million. President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has issued a decree to return the land to the state claiming that it was sold at an unfair price.

The Argentina Independent went out on the streets to find out what locals have to say about the issue. Photographs by Jerry Nelson.

Ignacio Daniel Brun, 31,  rural worker, Entre Ríos

Every government is corrupt, not just Menem’s government. I think it should be in the hands of the Argentine state because they have already sold so many things to other countries. We have sold so much to the outside. There are very few things that are truly ours anymore. Everything we do involves other countries. For example Las Malvinas, other countries came; YPF, Spain came; there are so many things. I am proud to be Argentine but at the same time it brings me pain to see so much foreign takeover.

 

Simón Flores, 42, cooking teacher, Balvanera

From what I see, the Menem government committed so many errors by selling things that belonged to the state, to the people. He sold everything for cheap. And now, the government wants to recover what was lost, to recover what was once theirs. We the citizens don’t know if there is actually another motive behind this. We don’t know, we are not well informed. They say they want to bring ownership back to the state but we do not know what that would look like. Nothing is for sure. Is the government doing this for themselves or for us the citizens? I think the government should have to buy the land from the current owners. If they do not buy it, they are stealing.

Tomás Salazar, 23, administrative worker, San Telmo

I think that if the land belongs to the state, it would be better because the state can change the government every four years but the Rural Society cannot. It is much more fixed. The Rural Society could hold on to the land for a much longer time than any government. If it belongs to the state, it does not belong to a particular government. It would only belong to a certain government for a short period of time. This is better because the ownership will keep changing and it will not just belong to the same people of the Rural Society.

 

Vanesa La Volpe, 22, travel agent, Temperley

In my opinion, it was very bad what Menem did. I do not agree with it at all. But I don’t think that the government can take away something from its current owners. I think that yes, they need to take care of natural areas and protect these things but they can’t just take away something that has owners. I don’t think they can just take something away from private owners without an agreement or some sort of settlement; that is unjust.

 

Sara Mareco, 34, nurse, Córdoba

I think that it is great that the state wants to take back what was theirs before. It belonged to Argentina before and it is a good thing to bring it back to the hands of the state. There is the question of what the land is worth, at what price the state should pay the current owners. It is complicated, but for me, it should be in the hands of the state.

Adding to its on-going conflict with media giant Grupo Clarín, the Argentine government has embroiled itself in another judicial battle with a major actor of the Argentine private sector. On 20th December, Chief of Cabinet Abal Medina presented an executive decree signed by President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner that established the nationalisation of La Rural, the most important exhibition centre in Buenos Aires, situated in Palermo.

Since President Fernández took office in 2007, she has undertaken a number of re-nationalisations, partly reversing the mass privatisations of the 1990s. This has led her to confront many large national and international corporations, who see their interests at risk. In many cases, these confrontations have been fought out in court. Some of the president’s policies have found stiff opposition from the judicial branch, and on several occasions, court decisions have led to their implementation being either cancelled or delayed.

The tension between the executive and judicial branches of the Argentine state has been building up, and in the last six months it has reached boiling point.

The La Rural Decree and Its Ramifications

In this latest case, the owners of La Rural have challenged the presidential decree in court, and have had the nationalisation suspended in the meantime. In response, the government has asked the matter to be treated in a different court, a demand of which the outcome is still pending.

The decree takes its legal basis on the fact that the centre, owned by the state since its foundation in 1878, was sold for an unfairly low price in 1991 to the Sociedad Rural Argentina (SRA). Under President Carlos Menem, La Rural was sold for US$30m, but in 2010 judge Sergio Torres ruled that at the time of its sale it was worth over US$131m. Since then it has been owned and exploited by SRA, an organisation that represents the interests of agricultural producers.

Torres’ ruling considered Menem’s Economy Minister, Domingo Cavallo, guilty of peculation – or misappropriation of public funds.

“We are dealing with an arrangement between several people whose objective was to subtract the Palermo exhibition centre from the national heritage of the country; public servants and executives of the Sociedad Rural Argentina have intervened in this operation which counted with the collaboration of the expert raters [who determined the value]” read Torres’ ruling.

Despite this legal precedent, the nationalisation has been taken by some actors of the agricultural sector as a direct attack on their interests, and vitriolic accusations have been thrown back and forth from both parties.

This can be explained by the fact that La Rural is best known for being home to the yearly exhibition of the same name, which gathers the most important producers and businessmen from the agricultural sector.

This particular sector of Argentine society, referred to as the Campo in Argentine media, has been in open conflict with the current government since 2008, when they were imposed a special tax regime on soy and sunflower exports. After several months of protests and roadblocks that crippled the Argentine economy, the government backed down and reinstated the pre-reform tax regime.

“The Constitution says that governments who do these types of confiscations must be sentenced as infamous traitors to the homeland,” vociferated Luis Etchevehere, president of SRA, in response to the executive decree, adding that the measure was “clearly payback” for the 2008 conflict.

The SRA challenged the decree at the National Court on Civil and Commercial Affairs -the same that currently handles the Clarín case. The court ruled that the government’s claim was illegitimate, and suspended the nationalisation.

“The State lacks, in principle, the legitimacy to try to recover an asset it sold over 20 years ago in a unilateral act. Even if the price is considered ‘unfair’, as the Executive claims, the State will have to go through legal channels to invalidate the act it considers damaging,” reads the ruling signed on 5th January 2013.

The government’s response was equally incensed, “there is a part of the judiciary that is colonised” announced Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo, while the president herself accused the court of “breaking every limit” in its opposition to the government.

The government, rather than appealing the decision, has started a legal process for the issue to be treated in a different jurisdiction. They claim that it is the Court for Contentious Administrative Proceedings that has legal authority over the decision. However the Court on Civil and Commercial Affairs will most likely try to retain its jurisdiction, in which case the Supreme Court will have to decide which of the two is entitled to rule on the issue.

This particular conflict between the government and the SRA is likely to continue for several weeks, if not months. 

This latest legal battle spearheaded by President Fernández inscribes itself in a larger narrative than a simple claim for property or even a wider conflict with the Campo. It is part of an ideological battle to establish the government as a key actor in public affairs, and have the state participate in as many varied domains as possible, reversing the privatisation policies of the 1990s. The other, more recent narrative, is one opposing the government to the judiciary.

Nationalisation Campaign

The successive governments of presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner have made the re-nationalisation of companies sold in the 1990s one of the focus of their policies.

In the last decade of the 20th century, former president Menem started a campaign of privatisations that included the railway system, the national oil company YPF, and the national airline Aerolineas Argentinas, among many others. In the years following their privatisation many of these services declined in quality of service, and several went bankrupt. The prime example of this is the national railway system, historically one of the most advanced networks in the region, which it is now half-abandoned and derelict.

The government has succeeded in several occasions already, with the most visible re-nationalisation being that of YPF last year. President Fernández officially expropriated Spanish owners Repsol in April 2012, and handed back control of the company to the national (51%) and provincial (49%) governments. Both the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate overwhelmingly approved the measure.

In a similar case, the national water company AySA was re-nationalised in 2006, under Néstor Kirchner’s administration, reversing its privatisation in 1993. Another example is how the government retook control over Aerolineas Argentinas in 2008, after it was facing serious financial problems and the threat of bankruptcy, which would have deprived Argentina of its only international airline.

President Fernández has repeatedly defended her record on nationalisations, and attacked the private companies’ managing of essential services: “The decisions taken for the nationalisations aren’t based on ideology or populist decisions, they are based on the disastrous record of the concessionary companies that force us to intervene,” she explained a few days after the announcement of the YPF nationalisation.

The Government and the Judiciary

The conflict between Campo and government in 2008 was also the first round in a war that would oppose Grupo Clarín, the largest media company in the country, against the president and her party.

Since then, the media group has taken on the role of main opposition to the government, filling in the void left by opposition political parties. Their conflict has gone from angry rhetoric and imprecations thrown at each other across the airwaves, to what has turned into a legal battle over the implementation of a Media Law drafted by the government and passed by Congress in October 2009.

The law includes a monopoly-breaking clause that would directly affect Grupo Clarín’s interests. The media group has legally challenged its constitutionality and the law has been suspended pending a decision by the same court stalling the nationalisation of La Rural. This is yet another level at which the government is entrenched in a conflict with the judicial branch of the state.

A key member of the executive had already spotted the turn the nationalisation of La Rural would take, as he was quoted by La Nación saying: “When the SRA challenges the State, any judge will give a cautionary ruling that will suspend the process and we’ll start all over again with the same issues as the cautionary rulings with Clarín.”

Following the unfavourable ruling in the Clarín case, the president has not hesitated in openly criticising the judicial branch.

Capitalising on the unpopular ruling in the Marita Verón case last December – in which all the accused of kidnapping the young woman in 2003 were absolved – she announced that “there is a divorce between society and justice” and pledged to “start a democratisation of the judiciary”. The case of Marita Verón was a criminal case against a prostitution ring that was widely followed by the Argentine public.

Exactly what this “democratisation” entails is not entirely clear. However, the growing confrontation between the government and the judiciary, of which the La Rural case is the latest example, might speed up the decision by the president to implement wide-ranging reforms of the judicial power.

 

Click here to find out what Argentines think about the La Rural case.

Yesterday an assembly of approximately 500 agricultural and livestock producers convened in the town of Azul, in Buenos Aires province, to propose the occupation of the Argentine Rural Society (SRA) property in Palermo. The protest, scheduled to begin today or tomorrow, is in opposition to an executive decree issued 20 December that would return the property to state control.

The property, commonly referred to as La Rural, was sold in 1991 by former President Carlos Menem for US$30m, although its value was estimated at US$63m. The Ministry of Justice claims that money from the sale is still owed to the state.

Members of the SRA, supported by the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA), called the move “an attack on private property”.

“The people are worried about the right to private property. We see this as a direct insult towards the [agricultural] sector”, said agricultural spokesperson Carlos Masson.

Demonstrators plan to occupy the property, which is often rented out as an exhibition centre, in defiance of the 20 January deadline, the date that ownership is scheduled to change hands. They plan to convene another assembly on the property on 19 January.

In addition to occupying the SRA, producers aim to protest the property’s re-nationalisation with a possible strike. Santiago Tellería of the Rural Society of Azul called for “an end to the sale of agricultural products and a declaration of a permanent state of alert”.

The Rural Society should receive a judicial response in the coming days to their request for a halt to the re-nationalisation.

The president of the Rural Society of Argentina (SRA), Luis Etchevehere, called for a livestock farmers’ strike next Wednesday in protest of a measure by the government to restore ownership of La Rural, in Palermo, to the state.

On Thursday, president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed a decree which declares the sale of the Palermo property to the SRA as “null and void”. The land on the corner of Santa Fe and Sarmiento was sold by former president Carlos Menem in 1991 for US$30m, whilst, according to the government, the National Valuations Tribunal calculated its value at US$63m. Justice Minister Julio Alak stated that the SRA still owes money to the state from the purchase of the property.

The alleged irregularities during the sale are being investigated by federal judge Sergio Torres, in a legal case where former economy minister Domingo Cavallo, SRA members, and banking officials are being prosecuted.

The SRA responded by suing the state and calling for a livestock farmers’ strike next Wednesday, a measure supported by other agricultural organisations. The SRA, which represents the interests of agricultural and livestock producers, has stated that the issue must be resolved in court and not by a presidential decree, and called the decree a “legal aberration”.

In a public statement, the organisation declared that “the purchase of the property was done strictly as per the legal framework at the time” and that “80% of the price has already been paid.” They also called the measure “an attack to private property” and a revenge on the agricultural sector after the 2008 campo crisis.

Regarding the future of the property, commonly known as La Rural and frequently used to house large exhibitions, such as the annual rural show and the book fair, minister Alak informed that “it will not suffer great modifications in terms of its use.” From now on, whoever wishes to use the property “will have to rent it out to the state” instead of the SRA.

At a speech opening the 126^th La Rural Expo in Palermo (Buenos Aires’ annual agricultural and livestock show), head of the Argentine Rural Society, Hugo Biolcati, politicised the event by launching into a series of criticisms of the current government.

Bioclati asserted that the government was “deteriorating“ and that ”the Constitution” is no longer in use.

He also called for “the end of intolerance and corruption” and to get over the “perverse role of the State which sustains its electoral power and subjects governors and mayors.”

“It is essential to carry out the moral renovation which the country demands. We need politicians with new values” he added at the stage box of Argentina’s main agro-business show.

Grievances between farmers and the government have been on the rise as of late; this following a new land revaluation decree.  In May Buenos Aires governor Daniel Scioli signed a decree that aims at a revaluation of rural land in the province, paving the way for the provincial legislature to pass a bill increasing taxes paid for land, cars, stamp duty, and others.

The decree and the tax reform bill seek to collect some $2 billion this year, around half of which would be sent to the national government.

This new decree was immediately rejected by farmers.  Following the announcement, Argentine farmers’ organisations under the umbrella Liaison Board, announced a national strike in June cancelling trade in certain products to protest against national government policies.

Eduardo Buzzi, head of Agrarian Federation of Argentina, explained that “costs, particularly taxes, have increased non-stop for farmers and thus our incomes have been diminished.”  He added, “something is going very wrong in Argentina’s farms, which is why we are sending this wake-up call … We are in bad shape and getting worse.”

Biolcati went on to list a series complaints: 12 million head of cattle less; wheat and corn planting discouragement; thousands of dairy farms eliminated, over a hundred abattoirs closed and thousands of workers from the meat industry collecting unemployment pay and living off subsidies.

“The time has come to participate, of making and not only of talking, of collaborating from wherever it is possible in the construction of a great new destiny for our great nation”, concluded Biolcati.

He also insinuated that he may enter into politics in the near future.

Photographer Natasha Ali shares her singular point of view of ArteBA 2012 which is open to the public from 18th until 22nd May, from 1-9pm in La Rural, Avenida Sarmiento 2704, Buenos Aires. General admission is $50. For more information and the schedule of auditorium events see www.arteba.org

December 6-11 over 500 artisans are selling their products direct to the public at La Rural convention center in Palermo for your holiday shopping needs. Coming in from provinces all throughout Argentina, you can see and buy traditional Argentine hand-crafted products, as well as some creations that push the boundaries a bit. Photographer Beatrice Murch shares a small sample of what to expect at La Rural through the long holiday weekend. Entrance fee is 20 pesos at Av Sarmiento 2704 from 15-22 hrs every day through the 11th.

The 125^th annual Exposition on Livestock and Agriculture began today at La Rural in Palermo.  The event, which goes until 26^th July, is an opportunity for breeders from across the country to showcase their livestock.  This year the event coincides with winter vacations, and organizers hope to top last year’s one million visitors.

“The situation of the sector looks bright, and the cattle breeding ranches present here today are selling semen and breeding animals at extraordinary prices,” the National Secretary of Agriculture Lorenzo Basso proclaimed at the inauguration, adding, “the Palermo exposition will serve as a way to discuss, analyze, and evaluate.”

The newly re-elected mayor of Buenos Aires, Mauricio Macri, who also attended the inauguration, asked the government to “put to the side the insults, attacks, and the confrontation.”  He added, “walking together we can regain the position that Argentina held and that it should never lose.”

The president of the Rural Society, Hugo Biolcati, signaled that there’s more work to be done: “We want another model.  One based on growth, on a real federalism, with incentives towards inversion and job growth to eradicate poverty once and for all” in Argentina.