States of Exchange
Artists from Cuba
INIVA London
23 January – 22 March
The Institute of International Visual Arts (INIVA) in London has put on a great exhibition of six contemporary Cuban artists working and living in Cuba. Works by Iván Capote, Yoan Capote, Jeanette Chávez, Diana Foseca, wilfredo Prieto and Lázaro Saavedra were show at their new space at Rivington Place, inaugurated in October 2007.
States of Exchange was curated by Gerardo Mosquera, well known Latin American art writer/critic and curator, and by Cylena Simonds who works for INIVA.
The artworks range from sculpture and performance to video installation. This exhibition as described in the catalogue, “explores how artists in Cuba deal with the contradictions, ambiguities and social negotiations in Cuban life”. The exhibited pieces are all contemporary and belong to what Gerardo Mosquera named at the beginning of the 1980’s “New Cuban Art”. All the works represent a break with the official ideology of culture imposed by the Cuban regime no longer following their political and nationalistic clichés.
The exhibition was an absolute treat and a rare occasion to see work from relevant contemporary Cuban artists that work and live in the island. The work is surprisingly critical of aspects of the regime in Cuba and the live Cubans lead there, which is a mark of the “New Cuban Art”. Some examples of pieces that are really striking are Jeanette Chávez’s video Self-Censorship (2006) where the artist is tying up her own tongue to illustrate the self-censorship practice by everyone in Cuba and the way they are complicit in their own silencing.
Another piece worth mentioning is History (2001) an applied mechanics work that Elvis Fuentes describes in the exhibition catalogue as: “an electric motor drives a revolving metal rod, to either end of which – at equal removes from the still centre – a marker and a felt duster have been attached, so that the line traced by the first upon the glass ‘blackboard’ is promptly erased by the second”. It is a beautifully visual metaphor of Cuban History being written and re-written on a daily basis, it is also an aesthetic poetic way of debating/contesting the written Cuban History in opposition to the reality of living in the Island. Of all the pieces, it was my favorite.
This exhibition was ultimately about the way that Cubans have become experts at negotiating exchange between each other as well as with the rest of the world. It illustrates how artists in this island, caught in a flux between local restraints and different levels of limitations can still communicate and exchange meaning globally. It’s about their artistically creative exchange strategies.
Sidonio Costa
London April 2008
Artists from Cuba
INIVA London
23 January – 22 March
The Institute of International Visual Arts (INIVA) in London has put on a great exhibition of six contemporary Cuban artists working and living in Cuba. Works by Iván Capote, Yoan Capote, Jeanette Chávez, Diana Foseca, wilfredo Prieto and Lázaro Saavedra were show at their new space at Rivington Place, inaugurated in October 2007.
States of Exchange was curated by Gerardo Mosquera, well known Latin American art writer/critic and curator, and by Cylena Simonds who works for INIVA.
The artworks range from sculpture and performance to video installation. This exhibition as described in the catalogue, “explores how artists in Cuba deal with the contradictions, ambiguities and social negotiations in Cuban life”. The exhibited pieces are all contemporary and belong to what Gerardo Mosquera named at the beginning of the 1980’s “New Cuban Art”. All the works represent a break with the official ideology of culture imposed by the Cuban regime no longer following their political and nationalistic clichés.
The exhibition was an absolute treat and a rare occasion to see work from relevant contemporary Cuban artists that work and live in the island. The work is surprisingly critical of aspects of the regime in Cuba and the live Cubans lead there, which is a mark of the “New Cuban Art”. Some examples of pieces that are really striking are Jeanette Chávez’s video Self-Censorship (2006) where the artist is tying up her own tongue to illustrate the self-censorship practice by everyone in Cuba and the way they are complicit in their own silencing.
Another piece worth mentioning is History (2001) an applied mechanics work that Elvis Fuentes describes in the exhibition catalogue as: “an electric motor drives a revolving metal rod, to either end of which – at equal removes from the still centre – a marker and a felt duster have been attached, so that the line traced by the first upon the glass ‘blackboard’ is promptly erased by the second”. It is a beautifully visual metaphor of Cuban History being written and re-written on a daily basis, it is also an aesthetic poetic way of debating/contesting the written Cuban History in opposition to the reality of living in the Island. Of all the pieces, it was my favorite.
This exhibition was ultimately about the way that Cubans have become experts at negotiating exchange between each other as well as with the rest of the world. It illustrates how artists in this island, caught in a flux between local restraints and different levels of limitations can still communicate and exchange meaning globally. It’s about their artistically creative exchange strategies.
Sidonio Costa
London April 2008
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