Written Cities

Part VII, “Written Cities,” looks at the city’s vast archive of literature, visual arts, and nonfiction writing to highlight recurrent themes in efforts to represent and imagine Buenos Aires. Documents explore visual and written representations of the city and its neighborhoods; the urban grid; the idea of the city as cosmopolitan, derivative, hybrid, or unique; and the often-repeated and reductionist label of Buenos Aires as “the Paris of the South.” It also explores the themes of immigration and emigration, the idea of a city shaped by psychoanalysis, reflections on the rise of Peronism, and the experience of living under dictatorship. Finally, a collection of documents showcases a range of perspectives of the city as a space of social mobility and reflects on the notion of Buenos Aires as a “middle-class city,” along with the effects of recurrent economic crises and inequality.