Paintings on Quequén’s Breakwater: Arte Puerto

The City of Necochea lies in the south of the Province of Buenos Aires. It is separated from neighboring Quequén by an old breakwater structure made of big masses of rock that have managed to placate the rough sea and the strong southeastern winds for decades.

Today, this breakwater is part of a popular work of art known as Arte Puerto (Port Art), whose inspiration responds to a cultural tourist program carried out by the Province of Buenos Aires, which has succeeded in turning a grey dull breakwater into one of the most beautiful murals in the country.

What first seemed strange today has become a tourist attraction visited not only by summer tourists who choose either the City of Necochea or quiet Quequén, but also by those who are just passing through during their journey to other destinations and have learned about the mural through the local and national newspapers and magazines.

The project emerged not only to embellish the old breakwater, but also as a way of showing that life can be appreciated in the simple things that we consider routine.

“The idea was to recover a public space used by many and thus, the commitment to do it started at Consorcio de Gestión del Puerto de Quequén (Quequén Port Management Consortium) and the Municipal Art School of Necochea”, says a neighbor who also asserts to have been present on the inauguration day.

Ten artists worked for the completion of this wonderful mural, whose connotations may be read at first sight, though everyone may search for their own interpretations. In November, 2008, it was immortalized in the collective memory of the region.

The giant mural, which measures a hundred and eighty meters of length and almost six meters of height, took barely a month to be completed and, during its development and inauguration, it stirred the interest of curious visitors and several characters that came along to see “what it was all about”.

Juan Bertola, Sebastián Sergueira (plastic artist from Necochea), Jaquelina Abraham (author and winner of the National Contest of Southern Breakwater Mural in the Port of Quequén), David Ganduglia (plastic artist from Necochea), Maximiliano Acuña (plastic artist from Necochea), Carlos Segovia (plastic artist from Necochea), Ariel Espósito (plastic artist from Necochea), Mario Goicoechea (responsible for the Port’s Consortium) and Pablo Benedini (plastic artist from Necochea, mentor and coordinator) were the creators of this real work of art that succeeded in changing the face of a site known to everyone.