ARQ Docs Ana María León
(September 2021)
Ana María León; Francisco Díaz (ed.)
Paperback; exposed binding with dust jacket
12 x 17 cm | 128 pp.
Spanish + English
ISBN: 978-956-9571-91-6
To what extent can a building be interrogated, and what might it reveal? In the two essays gathered in this book, Ana María León—PhD in History, Theory, and Criticism of Architecture from MIT—examines two buildings to illuminate political conflicts around modernity and colonialism in Argentina. “A Ruin in Reverse” explores the intersection of a long period of political instability—beginning with Perón’s exile—Borges’s politics and mysticism, and the construction of the National Library of Argentina. In “Bones of the Nation,” she revisits the dehumanization and genocide of the Tehuelche people as reflected in the Museo de La Plata, where Indigenous remains once part of its permanent exhibition remain unidentified and not returned to their descendants.
Side A: “A Ruin in Reverse: National Library of Argentina 1961–1992”
Side B: “Bones of the Nation”
Ana María León is an architect, historian, and assistant professor at the University of Michigan, teaching architectural history and theory with an emphasis on transnational connections across the Americas. She holds a PhD from MIT, an M.Des.S. with distinction from Harvard GSD, an M.Arch. from Georgia Tech, and an architecture degree from UCSG. In 2021 she published Modernity for the Masses: Antonio Bonet’s Dreams for Buenos Aires (University of Texas Press).