Consequences and Needs of Uruguayan Contemporary Muralism

The aim of this chapter is to summarise the artistic, historic and social development of Uruguayan contemporary mural production in the twentieth and twenty-first century, conducting a study from the 1930s to date. We explain the current problems in Uruguayan muralism, such as a lack of knowledge between cultural institutions and the absence of conservation and tourist planning, among other things. Many important murals have disappeared as a result of this situation, which is a great loss to Uruguayan heritage. Communities played an important role in mural development, and especially in the mural production that developed from 1990s. Society is becoming an essential part of the creation, promotion and conservation of murals. These new mural environments are also used as tools for local economic development, stimulating tourism, culture and identity process. Finally, the social function of muralism is considered, with the intentions of the artists as the starting point, and then extrapolated to other international mural movements.