Place: Tacuarembó

Tacuarembó, in Uruguay, is the geographical center of the pampas. In the past few decades, it has also come to be known as the pampas’ capital. For Gauchos, referring to the gaucho culture and people from Uruguay, Argentina and the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil), this city is a cultural reference, a crossroads of converging events in the pampas: considered the very capital of this autonomous region, where three distinct countries have combined their cultures to discover their own common cultural identity.

Tacuarembó is a city (as well as a region) where many indigenous archaeological sites remain buried – although already mapped, they have not been unearthed due to issues of protection and cultural preservation.

PLACE: TACUAREMBÓ _ Installation at the entrance of Tacuarembó city | 2011


PLACE: TACUAREMBÓ _ Photography | 120 x 160 cm | 2011

The work in Tacuarembó is based on signs that show the names of cities (the kind often placed on the main road to show the entrance to cities in the Brazilian countryside). The sign consists of large letters made of concrete, set up on the ground, forming the locality’s name. In the work, concrete letters spelling out TACUAREMBÓ were partially buried at the entrance of the city so that only one-third of the sign can be seen above ground.

Besides the installation in the city, the photograph Lugar: Tacuarembó (Place: Tacuarembó) is also a work in itself, somewhere between the photographic record and photography as artwork, autonomous in relation to the installation.

Photos 1 and 2 by Marina Camargo

Photos 3 and 4 at the Mercosul Biennial by Fabio del Re