Argentina Guide
The Litoral and the Gran Chaco
Fogón de los Arrieros
Opening time: Mon– Sat 8am– noon & 9–11pm
Price: $5
Address: Brown 350
Telephone: 03722/426418
Resistencia's Fogón de los Arrieros is a cultural foundation where a tongue-in-cheek bohemianism mixes quite naturally with a more serious artistic agenda, a testament to the vision of its founding members – led by Aldo Boglietti, who set the ball rolling in 1943, and the sculptor, Juan de Dios Mena. Its name means "The Drovers' Campfire", and was intended to evoke a sense of transitoriness: like drovers who would meet up around the campfire to relate a story or sing a song before moving on the next day, artists would come to this meeting-place, share their particular art form and then continue their journey.
As the centre's fame spread, especially in the 1960s and 1970s, it attracted an impressive list of major national and international artistic figures. Not everyone came to sing, and the walls are plastered by less transitory legacies. Paintings include the intense, energetic Cuarteto de Cuerda (String Quartet) by Julio Vanzo, along with works by Chagall and Raúl Soldi (who painted the cupola in the Teatro Colón). Demetrio Urruchua, Argentina's most famous muralist, left Crisol de Razas (Crucible of the Races) in 1954, intending to promote a pluralist spirit. Look out, too, for Dios Mena's appealing criollostatues, carved in curupí, a very light wood, and very much in the mould of Molina Campos caricatures. Eclectic curiosities range from a prisoner's shirt from Ushuaia to a Jíbaro shrunken head from Ecuador.
You can come in the evening to have a drink at its cosy bar, while food such as empanadas is often available. Best of all, try to catch one of the events – concerts, poetry recitals and the like – staged once or twice a week in the main salon or, weather permitting, the patio (most reliably Sat 10pm). Further attractions include academic conferences and tango lessons (Tue & Wed 9–11pm).