Who needs Art Basel? Town in ‘Uruguay’s Tuscany’ hosts international Campo Artfest

By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-01-09 08:19:54 | Updated at 2025-01-09 19:15:49 10 hours ago
Truth

In a chapel in sleepy rural Uruguay, wooden pews have been replaced by a sound sculpture made of resonance boxes and rubber mallets.

It may not be the most obvious location for an international art festival, but Pueblo Garzon is a small town with big ambitions to join the world’s cultural hotspots.

The sound installation was the creation of Lukas Kuhne, one of more than 20 artists from countries including Brazil, Singapore, South Korea and the United States who took part in the three-day Campo Artfest in late December.

The 8th edition of the event created by American photographer Heidi Lender drew around 6,000 visitors to a town with fewer than 200 residents.

 AFP

American photographer Heidi Lender is the founder of Campo Artfest and has been called the town’s “ambassador of art”. Photo: AFP

 AFP

An aerial view of an installation by Uruguayan artist Fernando Velázquez on the run-up to Campo Artfest. Photo: AFP

Kuhne, a German based in Uruguay, describes Pueblo Garzon as “a utopian project” but “in the good sense”.

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