San Telmo, the bohemian heartbeat of Buenos Aires, is full of art. It has a distinct presence, visible in the old European architecture, in the form of tango in the plazas, and at the feria every Sunday. It also lives at 736 Carlos Calvo, an old casa filled with art. It covers floors, walls, surfaces, creating a kind of “Alice in Wonderland” effect. Granted, buildings filled with art are nothing new; they’re called galleries.
But this building is different. It is the antithesis of the commercialism that inhabits galleries. Each of its rooms is a workshop and the art that inhabits them has been created by a group of ten artists called ‘El Sindicato’ (the union). It is quite an unassuming name for something so remarkable, but it is a tribute to the building’s history; it used to belong to a dock foremen’s union.
These artists do not pay rent for their workshops. They create art individually and they create art together. They use walls as canvases and rubbish as components of masterpieces. Basically, they do whatever they want; 736 Carlos Calvo is an artists’ paradise.
According to art director Pablo Rouco, the fairy tale began when a friend told him about two Swiss businessmen who purchased four houses that would remain closed for a year whilst undergoing the construction needed to connect them. Rouco’s friend knew he was interested in finding a workshop for artists, so she introduced them.
“We connected and it was perfect. [The businessmen] made a contract and gave us a year of freedom in order to paint and do whatever we want artistically, without having to pay anything,” Rouco says.
Each of the ten artists contributes to this wonderland in an individual way. Two of the artists contribute photographs of naked bodies bathed in projections of hypnotic images. There are painted icons of pop culture; Brigitte Bardot’s face claims an entire wall and James Dean appears carefree behind the wheel of his Porsche. A room filled with plastic yellow balls could probably bring out the inner child of even a dictator, and then there is all the rubbish.
Yes. Trash, garbage, basura.
El Sindicato works with two environmental NGOs, one of which teaches children how to make objects and sculptures from rubbish. It also created a tree from technological waste for ArteBA with the other organisation, Ambientate.
“The idea is to recycle,” Rouco explains, “to know that from rubbish, from nothing, a work of art can be created.”
A cooperative effort made the idea of the rubbish tree a reality. With so much creativity in one house, it is natural to wonder how often the artists work together.
“It depends,” Rouco says. “It happens very naturally. There are moments when we’re all together and the creativity explodes; they are magic moments of an artistic communion. No one has the pressure to create anything or pay anything.”
In true commune fashion, they all contribute the same amount of money for supplies and share cleaning duties. And they throw parties. They turn on music, invite people over, dance, show demonstrations of their work, or just keep painting in their workshops. It seems counterintuitive to believe that parties lead to productivity, but Rouco says this process is the most interesting and what he enjoys most. Some artists think that the finished product is most important; others think it is the process of creating. Rouco clearly adheres to the latter school of thought.
“The process of the work is what makes an artist,” he says. This belief is reflected in the way the artists do not seem preoccupied with selling their art. For money to sustain their livelihoods, they have jobs outside of the art world and also offer inexpensive courses of four to eight classes at the house. One of the instructors is a well-known drag queen who creates clothing from rubbish: dresses from plastic and wigs from straws.
But like the midnight expiration date of Cinderella’s enchanted evening, it seems that this kind of Dionysian freedom can last only briefly; at the end of one year, when the construction work starts, the property will be transformed into Casa Carlos, a boutique hotel.
What will happen to El Sindicato then?
First, most importantly, they will have a party. Some of the rooms will be destroyed, but part will remain. And in the hotel, there will be a gallery that will aptly be called El Sindicato, filled with the artists’ work.
Rouco is already looking ahead. A master of creating something from nothing, he has already found an empty warehouse in Puerto Madero that they may be able to use for five years or so.
But for now, anyone whose creativity has been piqued is welcome to go knock on the door at any time or visit www.elsindicato736.com.ar for more information.




