Eccentric art lines Buenos Aires city

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Why build a rooftop water tank in the shape of a Teletubby? Or go to the effort of installing a replica of the Eiffel Tower atop a semi-abandoned building?

It’s often difficult to explain the proliferation of unusual artwork dotting the vast urban belt of some 11 million people outside Argentina’s capital of Buenos Aires.

The creators are usually construction workers or shop owners, although some artists are seeking to leave their signature in their neighborhood.

Pedro Flores defines the outskirts of Buenos Aires as a “post-apocalyptic paradise” close to the capital’s center. He and two friends run an Instagram account, “The Walking Conurban,” a play on the words “conurbano bonaerense,” as the roughly 40 municipalities are known in Spanish.

AP photo A replica of a leaning Tower of Pisa constructed by artist and architect Rubén Díaz, adorns a private garden in Ituzaingo, Argentina, Oct. 15. Replicas of several European masterworks in the municipality were carried out by Díaz, who is considered a “generator of fantasies.” Díaz’s goal is in part to let his neighbors “travel” to places they would normally never see.