196:, was the seed for the artwork. The building was slated for demolition in 2001, but the process was subject to various legal, environmental and bureaucratic roadblocks. The original plan was to implode the building in three steps. But the implosion was stopped at the last minute by a group of neighbors concerned about the possibility of damaging environmental effects, including asbestos poisoning and the possibility of driving millions of rats out of the tunnels underneath the prison. Caseros was demolished by mechanical means floor by floor from the top down between 2003 and 2008. The cost of demolishing the prison, and thus the budget for the artwork, was estimated at somewhere between one and three million dollars.
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cycles, and the position of the potential viewer was underscored at a larger magnitude by the demolition process, which consisted in the removal of the building from the top down, floor by floor. The demolition lasted until March 2008, with the majority of the rubble taken to a fill in the River
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In addition to the 48 outer window grids, there were also 48 grids facing inward, directly opposite the outer grids. They didn't reflect the light of the sun from any possible viewing angles on the street, but the artist worked with them as well, using morse code to embed messages in the window
266:, Wulsin spent four months navigating the bureaucracies of the national and city governments of Argentina and Buenos Aires, respectively, to gain authorization to enter the building and carry out the onsite work. The resolution authorizing the project was finally signed on Friday, June 16 (
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and point of entry for the work. Each grid was approximately 17 feet (5.2 m) tall and 9 feet (2.7 m) wide. Breaking out certain windows, Wulsin created faces in each of the 48 outer grids on the building. Each grid consisted of 11 x 19 (209) circular
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The pictorial space of each image was directed at different points on the ground where the sun reflecting in the windows was visible. The viewing angles changed throughout the year as the sun's
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The window grids were already in various stages of decomposition when Wulsin found the building, with almost a third of the total number of windows already broken out by inmates during various
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Sizing up a window grid. The sandbags around the concrete columns were placed there for the implosion, which never took place. June, 2006
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80,000 tons is the approximate weight of the entire building, and the debris that the demolition produced.
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The cycle of appearance and disappearance that took place according to the daily, monthly and yearly
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Putting a human face on an
Argentine prison's history, International Herald Tribune (7 Aug. 2007)
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of space and light—the dark interior space of the prison, and the light shining through the
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On a basic level, the demolition of the prison, contracted out by the city government of
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After discovering the prison in
January 2006, while exploring the neighborhood of
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508:'La maravilla artística de Buenos Aires - The artistic wonder of Buenos Aires'
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520:'Ultimos días de las caras de Seth Wulsin - Last days of Seth Wulsin´s faces'
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one of the inward facing window grids of the prison, with code. July, 2006.
19:"Aparecidos" redirects here. For the 2007 Spanish-language horror film, see
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With a Hammer, Finding Ghosts In the Glass, New York Times (5 Aug. 2007)
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The window grids on the north end of the former prison provided the
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Some east wall faces of
Caseros prison, lit by the sun. July 2006
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Plate at
Costanera Norte near Jorge Newbury Airport.
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367:some lower west wall faces of caseros prison with
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53:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
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100:Southwestern view of Caseros prison, April 2006
307:West wall faces of Caseros prison. July 2006
150:is the past participle for the Spanish verb
477:, Center for Legal and Social Studies - PDF
225:reflective space of the remaining windows.
84:Learn how and when to remove this message
595:Buildings and structures in Buenos Aires
430:Buenos Aires City government description
213:windows, eight inches (203 mm) in
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466:'The Cruel Ones and the Speculators'
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496:'Caseros, a memory of state horror'
475:'Persons deprived of their liberty'
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16:Work by artist Seth Wulsin
438:'The Guards of the Mafia'
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39:This article includes a
615:Sculptures in Argentina
484:'Light in the Darkness'
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566:34.6333°S 58.3949°W
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60:Please help
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21:The Appeared
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457:30 Noticias
126:Seth Wulsin
108:Inside view
66:introducing
610:Public art
584:Categories
557:58°23′42″W
554:34°38′00″S
156:apparition
122:Aparecidos
500:Pagina 12
488:Pagina 12
443:Pagina 12
268:Bloomsday
230:elevation
223:optically
200:The grids
191:Argentine
164:Dirty War
148:Aparecido
138:Argentina
605:Land art
401:See also
219:function
215:diameter
194:military
152:aparecer
74:May 2009
528:Fotolog
369:Huracan
282:Gallery
272:Huracan
236:grids.
189:to the
118:16 Tons
62:improve
211:opaque
252:solar
248:lunar
209:semi-
206:locus
160:ghost
47:, or
250:and
120:and
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