Monumental metaphors of Art and Culture: The case of the Néstor Kirchner Cultural Center in Buenos Aires

Between 2006 and 2015, the Buenos Aires Post Office Palace was transformed into the President Dr. Néstor Carlos Kirchner Cultural Center. The designation of the Cultural Center, an institution dedicated to art and culture, with the name of the deceased former president generated great controversy in Argentina. The Government, the opposition and the media enunciated and recognized the Cultural Center as a metaphor of political power. The metaphorical uses of cultural heritage were sustained in the discourse of the main political and social actors. This case study describes one of the uses of cultural and art heritage in contemporary societies and the tense link between the media field and cultural management.