An exhibit highlighting the work of the famous U.S. artist Andy Warhol will open in Buenos Aires later this month.

The Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, or MALBA, will host the exhibit, dubbed Mr. America.

It’ll be the first major exposition of Warhol’s work in Argentina. The exhibit is being organized in conjunction with the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh, where Warhol was born.

The MALBA exhibit contains 140 works, including 26 paintings, 39 photographs and other materials, in addition to 17 films.

There’s plenty of time to see the exhibit. It’ll be in town through February 22.

Details:

Where: MALBA Avenida Figueroa Alcorta 3415
Contact: contactinfo@malba.org.ar or 4808-6500
When: October 23-February 22

For more info about museum hours and costs, click here.

The magnificent Teatro Colón, one of the world’s theatrical wonders, has been given the dubious distinction of appearing on a list of the world’s most endangered monuments list.

The anuual list, which was released Monday by the World Monuments Fund, includes 93 “at-risk” sites in 47 countries.

As for the Colón, it says the following:

“Widely recognized as the most important opera house in the Americas and one of the best in the world, Teatro Colón is an icon of excellence in the operatic tradition. This renowned institution is known for its high production standards: everything on stage is made at the theater’s legendary workshops by specialized technicians, artisans, and artists who maintain a skilled craftsmanship now lost in many parts of the world.” (more…)

In this video the fine folks over at Al Jazeera take a look at the bizarre story of Argentina’s “medicine mafia” and the fake or adulterated drugs that it sold to people, even dying people, who desperately needed them.

As Argentina debates a proposal by President Cristina Fernández to raise taxes on technological products, Uruguay is moving forward with a revolutionary plan to ensure that every child, and every teacher, in the country has a computer.

This video provides a surprisingly interesting – if not picturesque and bucolic – look at the program and its accomplishments.

Kudos to my buddy Julian Gallo for the link.

Wikipedia Link: The Ceibal Project
Link: World Politics Review on Uruguay’s Project

Just watch it, preferably in complete silence, with nothing to disturb you or your thoughts.

I found this incredibly interesting, though it left me feeling that there’s a lot to this entire era that I simply don’t understand and perhaps never will.

Link: Al Jazeera People & Power: Interrogating a Torturer

Despite its many otherwise amazing attributes, Argentina is not a particularly tech friendly country.

For tech-geeks, early adopters and innovators, Argentina can be a frustrating place to live because it constantly lags behind developed countries – and even some developing nations – in terms of innovation and the adoption of new technologies.

This isn’t to say, of course, that Argentina has no innovators.

Indeed, quite the opposite is true. Just look at what Santiago Siri is doing over at Popego and at Meaningtool. He’s not only adopting new technologies, he’s creating them.

And yet, as Malcolm Gladwell elegantly noted in his book Outliers, geniuses and innovators aren’t born into a vacuum. They’re most often raised in social contexts that nurture their talents, and provide them with the means necessary to stand out.

Given this basic axiom (let’s assume it’s true just for argument’s sake), you’d think the government, which recently asked Congress to raise taxes on tech products, might consider doing exactly the opposite. You’d think it might consider doing everything possible to lower barriers to the acquisition of new technologies. (more…)

September wasn’t a particularly good month for crime in Argentina, according to a new study.

Torcuarto Di Tella University’s latest crime “victimization rate” survey indicates that both overall criminal activity and violent crime worsened last month.

Di Tella’s study, which surveys households in 40 urban centers around the country, shows that 32.7% of these homes said at least one household member was a victim of a crime within the past 12 months. That figure is up a bit from 31.6% the previous month and up from 29.3% a year ago.

The study said that victims violent crimes report them to the police only one third of the time, meaning that 2/3 of all violent crimes are never formally reported. That says a lot about society’s lack of trust in the efficacy of police and the judicial system. (more…)