Descentralizing memory. Two logics of urban space intervention on the city of Buenos Aires

• Main Authors: Luis Sanjurjo, Manuel Tufró
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pontificia Universidad Javeriana 2010-07-01
• Series: Universitas Humanística
• Subjects: Memory; devices; urban space.
• Online Access: http://revistas.javeriana.edu.co/index.php/univhumanistica/article/download/2116/1356

Urban space is one of the surfaces where the marks are inscribed to keep memory of the genocide perpetrated by the last military dictatorship in Argentina. In the last yeards, various initiatives have intervened on urban space to produce a “descentralized memory” —not exclusionarily anchored—, in the so-called memory places. We began our inquiry by asking whether there is a single recognizable logic behind the practices of “memory descentralization” or whether, on the contrary, these practices of marking urban space correspond to different yuxtaposed grammars. This reflection will focus on the public space signalling policy the Buenos Aires City Government has made, on one hand, and on the actions of urban space intervention made by the various commissions of collective “Neighborhoods for Memory and Justice”, especially the initiative intitled “Tilings for Memory”.