Buenos Aires & Houston: Thanks to a major cultural exchange, one step closer to tying the knot.

Buenos Aires and Houston may be 5,000 miles apart, but the biggest city in Argentina and the largest metro in Texas have some cultural, demographic and geographic similarities that bring us closer together with each passing year. Non-stop flights from EZE to IAH on Continental, the Houston presence of an Argentine Consulate and the Texas Argentine Chamber of Commerce have all facilitated the flow of business and tourists between our two great cities.

Now fine art and a collaborative effort between our two main museums are poised to strengthen the Port City/Space City relationship. The Museum of Fine Arts Houston (MFAH) and the Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires (MALBA) are joining forces to celebrate their 10 year anniversaries together. The MALBA will receive over 130 works from the MFAH this month which will be on display through March 2012. In return, the MALBA will send 30 master works from its permanent collection to be displayed at the MFAH.

MFAH Latin American art curator Mari Carmen Ramirez puts the significance of the exchange in perspective, “The paintings we will receive in Houston from Buenos Aires will be the first time the MALBA has loaned master works from its permanent collection to a museum outside of Argentina.” And in Houston, MALBA curator Marcelo Pacheco says, “we have found an excellent partner and collaborator.”

With such trust and mutual adoration, it sounds like these two need to get hitched. While Houston has seventeen Sister Cities, only one is South America (Guayaquil) and none are in the Southern Cone. Given the burgeoning business and cultural ties, a more formal Buenos Aires/Houston alliance would seem like a Texas two-step in the right direction. (MFAH, MALBA)