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After four activity-packed days the second edition of Ciudad Emergente came to its end. A festival that showcased the best of indie rock, the new Argentine poetry, the rock-cinema, street and digital art and urban dance. Worthy of mentioning is the exhibition “A Todo Volumen: Historias de Tapa del Rock Argentino,” (stories of covers of Argentine rock) based on the eponymous book by Sebastián Ramos and Marcelo Morán. The Hall 8 was constantly a full house during the four festival days. This is a noteworthy fact, since the audience of Ciudad Emergente doesn’t generally have contact with the old history of Argentine rock. However, the exhibition aroused permanent interest.

Just like the past four days, rock-cinema is again present at Ciudad Emergente: the Espacio Bafici was always a full house, like yesterday with "I'm Your Man," on the great Leonard Cohen (see picture). This time, with movies dedicated to the Talking Heads, Wilco, and an all-time classic: “Rock Hasta que Salga el Sol,” the famous documentary on the BARock III that took place in 1972.

The marathon session begins at 4pm with “Stop Making Sense,” a film by Jonathan Demme on the Talking Heads. Demm captures a gig in the early eighties that gradually “assembles” before the eyes of the audience.

Mariana Bianchini is delivering her songs at the Villa Villa hall and Hana’s appearance is about to begin on the stage of the roof terrace. The audience is walking all around. It is already dark, and it is hard not to feel a wave of nostalgia, typical of the end of a long weekend (tomorrow we have to work, study and commute through a crowded city again). The nostalgia also typical of the end of a successful festival, in terms of artistic quality and number of attendees.

Urban expressions of youth culture where showcased before an avid audience. Graffiti exhibitions, alternative fashion parades, street dance. When walking along the main corridor of the CCR you could even bump into “spontaneous verse rhymers,” gathered in small improvisation groups.

The screening of "Rock Hasta que se Ponga el Sol," the documentary portraying the 1972 festival BaRock, is closing the lineup of Espacio Bafici at the microcine room at this very moment. Fragments of shows and other appearances by Sui Generis, Color Humano, La Pesada del Rock and Roll, Vox Dei, León Gieco and Pescado Rabioso (see picture) aroused praise, whispered remarks and exclamations like “wow, they were so wild!” Just as the exhibition on covers of Argentine rock albums, the film constitutes a subtle history lesson for a generation that is but taking its first steps in the rock culture. A cool way to learn.

The second edition of Ciudad Emergente comes to an end: a highly successful festival, in terms of artistic quality and number of attendees. A revealing figure: according to the management’s official data, in five days the festival drew 100 thousand. In every hall, stage and section of the Recoleta Cultural Centre there was a hefty dose of innovation, exploration and risk-taking. All you can wish for a youth culture in one of the major cities in Latin America.