The exhibition Dos escuelas/Two Schools displays one of the most successful examples of social art practice in Argentina. It presents an overview of the educational and artistic work which a group of Argentinean artists have been carrying out in the disadvantaged neighbourhood of Villa Fiorito for over a decade, bringing content, concepts and strategies of contemporary art to workshops for children and teenagers living in extreme poverty, as well as presenting to them shows by well established artists.

One of the schools was set up in 2003 by Fernanda Laguna who started a branch of her artist-run gallery, Belleza y Felicidad (Beauty and Happiness) in a room of one of this shantytown’s homes, a space where the local youth attended art, poetry and music classes and some of the most prominent Argentinean artists held exhibitions and led workshops. In 2008 a group of artists which originally included Laguna as well began working in the local Secondary school. Through their involvement with teachers and the community they managed to transform the school into a an art-oriented educational project. The artists leading this initiative are Lorena Bossi, Juan Bahamondes Dupá, Ariel Cusnir, Paula Domenech, Sebastián Friedman, Leandro Tartaglia y Daniel Zelko, who currently work as teachers in the school.

Artists who have exhibited their work and/or taught workshops in Belleza y Felicidad Fiorito include Adrián Villar Rojas, León Ferrari, Fernanda Laguna, Mariela Scafati, Marina de Caro, Juliana Ceci, Leopoldo Estol, Talata Rodriguez, Francisco Garamona, among many others. This close contact with the thought processes of art has brought the local youth the possibility of imagining themselves in a different manner, outside the parameters of extreme poverty and violence which rule their daily lives. The projects at Villa Fiorito have obtained international recognition as a model for artsitic social pratice, being shown at the Istambul Biennial, Turkey; La maison Rouge, Paris; and other art institutions.