Maurizio Cattelan creating 'cemetery for the living' for Art Basel Cities in Buenos Aires

Art Basel Cities has revealed details about its inaugural program, where contemporary art will occupy a series of indoor and outdoor spaces to create what is conceived of as "a journey through the city of Buenos Aires."

Buenos Aires is the first city to be chosen for Art Basel Cities, an initiative by the organizers of the long-running Art Basel art fair and aimed at highlighting and supporting cities' local art scenes.

Those organizers have now revealed details of the inaugural event, named "Hopscotch," which will take place in September across multiple neighborhoods and in venues including plazas, parks, abandoned buildings, museums of curiosities and derelict structures -- in short, spaces not typically devoted to contemporary art.

The name "Hopscotch" (Rayuela) is taken from an experimental novel by Argentine writer Julio Cortázar, whose non-linear narrative can be read in various sequences, jumping from chapter to chapter. The public art program will likewise hopscotch through the city, seeking to create "unexpected connections between sites and artworks."

Those artworks include an intervention by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, whose experimental project "Eternity" will take the form of a pop-up "cemetery for the living" in the neighborhood of Palermo. Artists and amateurs in the city are invited to participate by creating tombstones for living people -- "friends and enemies, real individuals or imaginary characters, lovers and haters."

Among other works and projects, American artist David Horvitz will commemorate the centennial of French artist Marcel Duchamp's 1918 sojourn in Buenos Aires, and Argentine artist Eduardo Basualdo will create a "unique sensorial landscape" through a progression of sculptural encounters along the Rio de la Plata.

The Art Basel Cities Week will take place from September 6 to 12. Further information can be found at www.artbasel.com/cities/buenos-aires/overview.