Highlights from Montevideo, Uruguay

The first Tomar la Calle outing in Montevideo took place at the Tristán Narvaja Fair. We gathered more than 35 people to “Tomar la Feria”.

As coordinator and ambassador of the day I thank those who came and the local collectives of Fotoclub and Foto Urbano who also extended the invitation to more people. 

The Fair was chosen because it is a historic place in the city with more than 100 years of history.

Besides having a similar symbolism, the neighborhood fairs are just that, an ephemeral architecture that for a while takes over the street.

I appeal to an excerpt from a text by Architect Salvador Schelotto to tell it better.

“Barely a hundred years were enough to implant in the collective imagination of our city, such a strong signal. This ephemeral and fleeting installation -which every Sunday morning is set up to be dismantled and disappear-, counts more in that imaginary than many marble and bronze monuments; than many stone, iron, brick and concrete buildings, or than many late-modern skins of mirrored glass and curtain wall. 

It is a statement about the power and the potential of certain social events, performed by a collective in the urban space. The potential and power that intangible heritage exerts on our minds, on evocations, emotions and collective memory, operates on the mentalities and customs of urbanity”.”