prisoners

Posted by Ryan (Buenos Aires, Argentina) on 4 February 2007 in Lifestyle & Culture.

Caseros Prison was a prison that was constructed here during the military dictatorship and was instrumental in its Dirty War, where people were kidnapped, tortured, and killed or 'disappeared'. Originally 22 stories tall and designed never to let the prisoners experience direct sunlight, today it's a few less, as it is coming down to make way for progress - the new subte line, due in a year and half (I've heard that line before, though). It can't, however, be imploded, as it is surrounded by hospitals, orphanages, retirement homes, and a baby kitten and puppy adoption centre.

Well, the hospitals are true, at least, and so it has to be brought down section by section, mechanically. The story here comes in the form of an American artist named Seth Wulsin who walked by one day and had an idea. Four months of bureaucracy gave him the freedom to create faces; personalities of people he thought had inhabited the walls now inhabited the windows. It will be destroyed as the building is, but it'll free the tortured souls trapped in the bricks of that old dungeon.

The time of day defines what you can see, and we were there in the early afternoon. Chris has a great picture of the whole wall.

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