calendario eventi  :: 

X

26/3/2009

X Havana Biennial

Different venues, La Havana

The Tenth Havana Biennial will take place during the months of March and April 2009, coinciding with the twenty-five years of its founding. This is a propitious circumstance to stimulate the reflection on its own history, particularly on those principles that served as base to convoke creators from Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, in a genuine climate of approach among us and of respect to the rest of the international community.

Since 1984 we have focused our attention on the artists from the South whose works represent concerns and conflicts – many times of universal scope – that are common to our regions. In this regard, issues like the existing tensions between tradition and contemporariness, the challenge to the historical colonization processes, the relations between art and society, the individual and his memory, human communication in the face of technological development and the dynamics of urban culture have become topics of particular interest, without distinction among the multiple forms of visuality that operate in culture as a system.

However, the Biennial cannot ignore the geopolitical reconfiguration occurred in recent years and consequently the increase in the number of countries that approach the conditions of the so-called South and those that, in precarious positions of development, aim at inserting themselves in the economic blocks of more favored countries.

The Biennial will take place within an allegedly globalized world that appears before us with many faces, complexities and conflicts, particularly when the discourse referred to it tends to arrange in order of importance the economic hegemony, the dependence and the control of information, ignoring the different stages of development and the socio-political orientations that coexist in the planet. Likewise, the coexistece of expressions, still in a pristine state of preservation, together with the most sophisticated forms of symbolical productions influenced by the development of new technologies gives clear proof of the deceit of the homogeneizing discourse of globalization.

Therefore, this implies recognizing a new logic of economic, technological and human interconnections expressed in the dynamics of relations between local, regional and global, which, in accordance with that path of reflections started by the Havana Biennial more than twenty years ago urges us to favor those differentiating shades and contextual peculiarities derived from the processes of insertion and resistance to globalization. We are in the face of the multiple influences, tensions and reformulations of the problem of identity, so many times submitted to scrutiny by historiography, the critics and the artists themselves. When it seemed that we knew everything – or almost everything – about ourselves, the new internal and external relations place us once more in front of the mirror, emphasizing the procedural nature of identity, favoring the contaminations at the same time it widens our knowledge of the diverse.

If we live in an era in which some of the distinguishing features of our regions and countries suffer modifications or even tend to dilute in that complex process of integration, our contributions are to be more visible as the transformers, protagonists and creators that we are, not in terms of subordination or periphery.

The Tenth Havana Biennial will focus on the complexity of a real and active integration to a global order, on one side, and on the capacity of resistance in the face of the homogeneizing farce that it presupposes, on the other. In the approach to these directives, the event will reinforce its laboratory nature where trans-disciplinary proposals and proposals of processes and experimentation in the visual arts and other forms of culture will come together.

The curatorial team of this edition of the Biennial is made up by Rubén del Valle Lantarón, Jorge A. Fernández Torres, Margarita González, Nelson Herrera Ysla, José Manuel Noceda, Ibis Hernández Abascal, Margarita Sánchez Prieto, Pepe Fernández Portal and Dannys Montes de Oca Moreda.

FROM ALL CONTINENTS

Artists of forty-four countries from all continents will take part in the Tenth Havana Biennial. The most represented region is that of Latin America and the Caribbean.

From that zone, Argentinian creators like Graciela Taquini, Leonel Luna, Martín Di Girolamo, Ananké Asseff, Marcos López, Diego Bianchi, Gabriela Golberg, and the duet Caraballo-Farman (Abou Farman and Leonor Caraballo) have confirmed their participation.

From Venezuela we will have the presence of Javier León, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Susana Arwas and the duet Fabiola Arroyo-Luis Fabián Arroyo.

Paraguay is represented by Carlos Colombino, Freddy Casco and the duet Erika Mesa and Javier López.

Juan Fernando Herrán Carreño, María Elvira Escallón, Milena Bonilla, Bárbara Cardoso, Wilson Díaz, Mario Opazo and Fernando Uhía will arrive to our country from Colombia.

The Mexican representation is made up by Irene Dubrovsky, Marcela Díaz, Idaid Rodríguez Romero, Abraham Cruz Villegas, the duet Nuevos Ricos (Julián Lede-Carlos Amorales) and Artemio Narro.

From Chile will arrive Máximo Corvalán, Mario Navarro, Claudia Aravena Abughosh, Patrick Hamilton, Bernardo Oyarzún, Mariella Sola, Romain Osi, Armando Miquélez Giambruno, Carolina Loyola and Gloria Loyola.

From Bolivia, Claudia Joskowicz has confirmed her presence. From Uruguay, Javier Abreu, Julia Castagno and Santiago Velazco.

Perú will be represented by Ishmael Randall Weeks, Fernando Bryce and Eduardo Villanes Baricheva.

Also, from Haiti, Maxance Dennis and Jean Ulrich Désert; from Barbados, Annalee Davis; from Martinique, Alex Burke; Curaçao: Tirzo Martha; Suriname: Remy Jugerman; Trinidad and Tobago: Steve Ouditt; the Dominican Republic: Elia Alba, Fausto Ortiz and the Group Shampoo (Maurice Sánchez, Angel Rosario, Engel Leonardo and Miguel Canaán); Puerto Rico: Nayda Collazo-Llorens, Rafael Trellez and Carolina Caicedo.

From Honduras, as well, Lester Fernando Rodríguez and Antonio Adán Vallecillo Sevilla; from Nicaragua, Wilbert Carmona and Raúl Quintanilla; Costa Rica, Jorge Alban Dobles and Lucia Madriz; Panama, Donna Conlon and Jonathan Harker; Guatemala, Darío Escobar and Regina José Galindo; El Salvador, Walterio Iraheta and Ronald Morán.

From North America there will be representatives from Canada – Jamelie Hassan, Annie Roy and Pierre Allard – and from the United States – Erika Lord and Titus Kaphar.

From Japan, Takafumi Hara; from China, Liu Xiaudong, Chen Xiaoyun and Chen Jiagang; and from Korea, Yong Soon Min will represent the Asian continent, while from Europe creators Sebastiano Mauri, from Italy; Sisley Xhafa, from Kosovo, and Lluis Barba, José Hernández Rivero, Francisco José Guillén Abrante, Rafael Hierro Rivero and Pedro Déniz, from Spain have confirmed their presence.

The list of African participants includes the South African artists Manfred Zylla, Johannes Phokela, Andrew Putter, the duet Hasan Essop-Husain Essop, and Berni Searle and Minnette Vári; from Mali, Abdoulayé Konaté; from Zimbabwe, Daniel Halter; from Angola, Yonamine and N?dilo Mutima; from Nigeria, Emeka Okereke, and Collective Black Box (Uche Okpa-Iroha, Chiemela Elijah Azurunwa, Adeniyi Odeleye, Mary Onete Kasim, braham Onorio de Oghobase, Ologeh Otuke Charles, Andrew Esiebo); from Ghana, Philippe Kwane Apagya; from Cameroon, Wouete Lotchouang Guy Bertrand (Guy Wouete); and from Zambia, Victor Mutelekesha.

Australia will be represented by the artists Darren Siwes and Michael Goldberg.

Lastly, Cuba – host country – has 17 artists on its payroll: Ángel Alonso, Abel Barroso, the duet Reinerio Tamayo-Eulises Niebla, Glenda León, Luis Gómez, Alexandre Arrechea, Inti Hernández, Juan Carlos Rodríguez, Yoan Capote, Nelson Ramírez de Arellano-Luidmila Velasco, Fernando Rodríguez, Ricardo Elías, José Angel Toirac-Meira Marrero-Loring McAlping, Wilfredo Prieto, Lissette Castillo and the duet Felipe Dulzaides-Roberto Gottardi.

TENTH BIENNIAL, TWENTY-FIVE YEARS

Shigeo Fukuda, Japan / Luis Camnitzer, Uruguay / León Ferrari, Argentina
By Margarita González Lorente

Since the beginning of this year, the curator team of Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center has been working on the organization of the tenth edition of the Havana Biennial. After the presentation of the event’s document, which contained the main conceptual guidelines under the general topic of Integration and Resistance in the Global Era, the attention has been concentrated in trying to bring together the proposals of the guest artists under more specific themes of current interest.

The general theme of the Tenth Biennial opens a whole range of possibilities. The topics on identity, advertising, the technological contributions and their projection, the ecology as a very important issue in our days, the reflections concerning art and its possibility of modifying reality – all historical phenomena to a different extent – are essentially the guidelines on which the artists are communicating. However, when reviewing the projects we have realized that many topics already handled in other Biennials are still in full force. Others have even gained more force. The theme of migration, broached by many artists, takes the floor again, just like the phenomena of the trans-territoriality and the artist out of context — elements that place him perhaps in a privileged position when regarding other aspects of a reality that is not really his own.

Violence, war, war conflicts in general are other themes used by the creators to reflect — from the standpoint of art — what is happening today in our planet.

A total of eight projects of great artistic impact have been selected. From Mexico we shall have the presence of the projects El maíz es nuestra vida (Corn is Our Life) and Bisagra (Hinge), two proposals that will handle crucial topics of our societies: foodstuffs and violence. In the case of El maíz..., the relevance of natural elements gains importance, the reflection on transgenic foodstuffs, their role in health; the rise in the price of something as vital as grains — an essential nourishment for the autochthonous populations — gain additional relevance in the artists’ proposals as a conceptual element. Woman as an important element in the sustainment of the family and responsible for the maintenance is something that the proposal wishes to highlight. Forty-eight creators are developing not only the work as an object; their concern goes beyond it and reaches other spheres like the conduction of workshops and the direct link with the community. Bisagra essentially intends to handle something as topical as violence in our days, its impact on any society and its effects on the development of the individual.

There will be a proposal of six young Chinese artists, already fairly outstanding in that country’s cultural life, as part of the artistic explosion that has taken place in the Asian continent. Their works, on themes like identity, recycling and advertising, will be very interesting to see and valuate during the Biennial days.

Resistance and Freedom: Wifredo Lam, Raúl Martínez, José Bedia is a proposal of three Cuban artists presented by Corina Matamoros that integrates quite well to the Biennial. The presence of a sample of these important creators will grant the event a very special touch through the enjoyment of works whose essence and poetics implicitly carry in them the phenomena of resistance and integration.

Latitudes, Artists of the World, elaborated by French curator Regine Cuzin, is another one of the projects to be presented, with a high number of creators from many countries and a relevant dialogue concerning identities, migrations and history. Tales From the New World is a project presented by Cuban artist Humberto Díaz, with participation of 13 creators from Cuba and other countries. The remaining group proposals are Género (TRANS) Género y (des) Generados, by journalist Andrés Abreu, a work that will include several lines of creation pretending to link performances, theatrical arts and other actions as well as the video show Sin Horizontes, from Colombia.

Special guests will be Louis Camnitzer, Leon Ferrari, Fernell Franco, Antonio Ole, Shigeo Fukuda, Sue Williamson, Pepón Osorio, Guillermo Gómez Peña and Antonio Martorell, the latter with one of his interesting proposals that includes conferences, practical lessons and an exhibition that will be presented in connection with the Havana Graphics Workshop. Two other workshops complete this general outlook of the Biennial: one by Tania Bruguera with her teaching experiences related to similar practices in other countries of the world, and the other one of Latin American videos, with interesting proposals.

These workshops will highlight something that has always been present in the Biennials: the sense of projection in the teaching of art, the relevance and weight it has always had and the vocation of social insertion contained in the creators’ proposals.

The Project entitled Arte Contextual LASA, which will be carried out in the neighborhood of San Agustín, conforms the general outlook of the tenth edition of the Havana Biennial.

Approximtely 200 artists, including duets and groups, have already confirmed their attendance. Cuba will be present with 17 selected creators, some living abroad. Notwithstanding, the curator team is presently working on the final definition of the projects, in direct coordination with the participants.

Ranking from the most traditional of the visual arts to performance, video shows and the most contemporary languages, the Biennial will be debating a very interesting and current topic in a world that is becoming more and more complex from the social, economic and political points of view. It is a great challenge for the event to concretize the ideas of our times through art on the basis of the contemporary artistic production.

As in almost all Biennials, the event spaces include the main art institutions in our country: the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, leading and sponsoring organ together with the National Council of Fine Arts; the Center for the Development of the Visual Arts; the Cuban Photo Archive and the important spaces of the City Historian’s Office, among many others will be showing the works of the guest artists and projects.

As in previous events, work has also been carried out in the conception of the theoretical event or colloquium, where there will be debates on the topics the Biennial wishes to address without pretending to exhaust them.

The preparation of the Biennial is permanent and will last all of 2008 plus the initial months of 2009. Thematic lines derived from the event’s general concept will be drawn in the interest of organizing groups or areas of reflection. Integration and Resistance in the Global Era will tell about ourselves, about the problems in our countries, about society and its reflection on art. It will be a moment of rejoicing and happiness in celebration of a quarter of a century of an event that has also resisted and integrated to the most contemporary and autochthnous of our cultures.

THINKING THE BIENNIAL: OUTLOOK OF THE THEORETICAL EVENT

Ever since their foundation in 1984, the Havana Biennials have promoted a space for reflection with a discourse of their own and a trend of thought oriented both from their different expositional nuclei and from the voices of numerous researchers, critics and essayists who have been invited historically to their theoretical event.

We have had the possibility of enjoying the participation of figures of the height of the Mexican Juan Acha; the Americans Lowery Sims and Shifra Goldman; the French Claude Esteban, Pierre Restany and Nicholas Bourreaud; the Spanish-Mexican Adolfo Sánchez Vázquez; the Indian Geeta Kapur; the Pakistani Rasheed Araeen; the Briton Guy Brett; the Uruguayan Luis Camnitzer; the Paraguayan Ticio Escobar; the Chilenin Nelly Richard; the Spaniards Eduardo Subirats and José Luis Brea and the Argentinian Sebastian López, only to name a few.

Their discourses have analyzed many of the situations and confrontation problems to which developing countries are submitted, and they have exposed domination strategies established as irreversible hegemonic models of the sphere of art.

We can assert that it is an open group of texts, conferences, ideas and reflections from the so-called Third World or about it, that goes beyond our geographical regions to trace a path, insert itself and define the bases of a new type of universal culture.

The conceptual platform Integration and Resistance in the Global Era – theme of the upcoming Biennial –, offers us a reference for the analysis of current problems but of historical roots, derived or associated to what today we know as a new era of globalization or world contacts.

The Theoretical Forum of the Tenth Havana Bienal pretends to offer a sufficiently extense range of topics in order to comprise the main problems affecting today’s world under the local-regional-global tensions.

It likewise Intends to articulate a dynamics of exchanges that takes into consideration the very history of the Havana Biennial – its origin, program and development – as the guideline from which many of the practices of international art and culture today were promoted, at the same time that, in continuation of that development, we might turn the very theme of the Biennial into a metaphor, a tribute and – why not? – the questioning of a project that arrives to its twenty-five years of existence.

Among the international personalities convoked are the Briton Sebastián López, the Spaniard Santiago Olmo, the Uruguayan Luis Camnitzer, the Chilenin Nelly Richard, Julia Herzberg, from the United States and Lliliam Llanes and Hilda María Rodríguez from Cuba.

TENTH HAVANA BIENNIAL | Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center
San Ignacio no. 22 y Empedrado, Plaza de la Catedral. Habana Vieja, CP 10100
Ciudad de La Habana. Cuba
Telephones: +537 8646283 | 8646284 | 8646282 Fax: +537 8668477

Press Contact
Josè Camilo Lopez Valls
Head of the International Relations Department e-mail: rinterlam@wlam.cult.cu

Opening day March 27th, 2009 in all exhibition spaces
Performance “NIMBO/OXALÁ”, by Ronald Duarte ( Brazil )
Piece in the public space by Pepón Osorio ( Puerto Rico )
“Tinieblas. Poéticas de la violencia” (video art)
Video-review “Sin Horizonte” ( Colombia )
Performance by Michel Goldberg ( Australia )
Performance by Gabriela Golder ( Argentina )
Galería Cilindro (interactive performance)
Morro-Cabaña Historical-Military Complex
4:00 p.m.

Inauguration show
Morro-Cabaña Historical-Military Complex
9:00 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Organizing Committee
Tenth Biennial of Havana
Wilfredo Lam Contemporary Art Centre
San Ignacio 22, esquina a Empedrado
Plaza de la Catedral La Habana Vieja / Cuba

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