Lost in Buenos Aires, Street Art Got Me Home

I have long thought about public arts ability to implicate a sense of place upon otherwise drab environments. Commissioned public art murals and sculptures, along with the unpermissioned public interactions we call urban intervention, create moments of recognition that often tie themselves concretely to a place and your experience of that space. Through your recognition of the visual imagery, your awareness of other parts of your surroundings become more focused and your experience enriched. These images and objects have a strange way of tying you mentally and physically to the place you are in and thus creating a stronger bond between you and the environment. To me this is an incredibly important issue as we become more and more urban as a species. Relating to your public spaces is what allows you to feel connected to the city and thus the people around you. These images and objects diminish anonymity and promote a sense of community.

Below is one persons account of how those moments of recognition helped navigate a city but to me represents something much greater. Do advertisements and massive billboards do this? My thinking is no but instead of arguing about it try to think about the last moment of visual excitement you had and ask yourself what sparked that eureka moment.

VIA Hyperallergic

On a recent vacation to South America, I accidently became lost in the middle of Buenos Aires. Separated from my partner who had the maps, money, hotel name and address, not to mention a command of the native language, I panicked. More [Here]