an exhibition of Cuban artists from the 1980s to the present Curators Elvis Fuentes, Glexis Novoa, Yuneikys Villalonga New York, 2007 ©2007 Exit Art. All Rights Reserved. Published by Exit Art Reproduction Rights Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Killing Time May 12 – July 28, 2007 ISBN: 0-913263-47-8 1. Conceptual art – Exhibitions 2. Cuban contemporary art 3. Elvis Fuentes 4. Glexis Novoa 5. Yuneikys Villalonga Catalog Design by Papo Colo and Fawad Khan Exit Art 475 Tenth Avenue New York, NY 10018 T: 212.966.7745 F: 212.925.2928 www.exitart.org CONTENTS / INDICE About Exit Art 04 In Search of Lost Time / En Busca del Tiempo Perdido Introductory poem by Papo Colo 05 Elvis Fuentes A Timely Introduction 06 Una Introducción Oportuna 24 Glexis Novoa The Consecration of Mischief, The Origins of Performance Art in Cuba 13 La Consagración de La Jodedera, Orígenes del Performance en Cuba 31 Yuneikys Villalonga The Utopia of Living Together (in these days), A Reflection on Contemporary Art in Cuba, the Island 18 La Utopía de Vivir Juntos (en estos tiempos), Una Reflexión Sobre el Arte Contemporáneo en Cuba, La Isla 37 Papo Colo To Live Surrounded by Water 22 Vivir Rodeado de Agua 42 Artists full list and biographies 44 ABOUT EXIT ART Exit Art is an interdisciplinary laboratory for contemporary culture that explores the rich diversity of voices that continually shape art and ideas. Since it’s founding in 1982 by Jeanette Ingberman and Papo Colo, Exit Art has presented over 2,500 artists and has grown from a pioneering alternative art space, bringing attention to the work of under-recognized artists, into a model cultural center for the 21st century. With a substantial reputation for curatorial innovation and depth of programming in diverse media, Exit Art’s exhibitions, performances and programs respond to culturally resonant themes, empowering artists to redefine their artistic sensibility. Exit Art is internationally recog- nized for its unmatched spirit of inventiveness, commitment to supporting artists, and consistent ability to anticipate the newest tendencies in the culture. A place where different disciplines and audiences converge and cross-pollinate, it is a key site for excavating the unwritten histories of contemporary art and culture. BOARD OF DIRECTORS John Smith, Chair Suzy Quu, President John Smith Suzy Quu John Smith Suzy Quu John Smith Suzy Quu John Smith Suzy Quu John Smith Suzy Quu John Smith Suzy Quu John Smith Suzy Quu John Smith Suzy Quu John Smith Suzy Quu 04 IN SEARCH OF LOST TIME Time lost is life that dies. Because time gained exists in the unknown future. Artistic work is the accumulation of chronological stories Artists that spend time in a vacuum are cultural possibilities that never happened Our days are numbered and categorized. A regressive count is an extended debt. Not every past was better, time counts and kills. To kill time is to repress the space of our existence, To renounce the obligation of labor, To discover the pleasure of waiting Without the worries to produce, but the advantage to play with the conscience. My version of killing time is to recover history, Multiplying the space that was denied, practicing freedom of the will And the possibility of having an opposite opinion. To kill time then is to wait that one utopia consumes us so that another utopia desires us. The duty of the artist is to get lost in life and space to increase time. Because the artist’s religion is not political but philosophical, The love of art is the search for lost time. EN BUSCA DEL TIEMPO PERDIDO El tiempo que se pierde es vida que se muere. porque el tiempo que se gana, existe en el futuro que desconoces, la vida artística es la acumulación de historias en forma cronológica El talento que pierde el tiempo son posibilidades culturales, que nunca se realizarán, Nuestros días están contados y clasificados. Una cuenta regresiva es una deuda que se extiende. Y no todo pasado fue mejor, el tiempo cuenta y mata. Matar el tiempo es reprimir el espacio de nuestra existencia, Y renunciar a las obligaciones del trabajo, es también descubrir el placer De esperar, sin la preocupacíón de producir. Y con la ventaja adicional, de tener el tiempo de poder jugar con la conciencia. Así que mi versión de matar el tiempo es recuperar la historia, para empezar a multiplicar el espacio que nos fue negado, la libertad de la voluntad y la posibilidad De opinar lo contrario de cualquier idea que el poder nos imponga. Entiendo, que matar el tiempo es esperar que una utopía nos consuma, Para que otra utopía nos desee. El deber del artista es, perderse en la vida y en el espacio, para aumentar el tiempo, Su religión no es política sino filosófica, el amor al arte es, La búsqueda del tiempo perdido. Papo Colo Exit Art Cultural Producer, 2007 05 A TIMELY INTRODUCTION of Glexis Novoa on Cuban performance art in the 1980s5 Elvis Fuentes and we invited him to join the team and to work on a special section in the show. In June of 2005, upon receiving a curatorial prize at the When Ben Rodríguez-Cubeñas found out about this project, Ljubljana Biennial of Graphic Arts, I took advantage of my he immediately offered the support of the Rockefeller Broth- 15 minutes of fame in Slovenia in order to propose a show ers Fund and Cuban Artists Fund, in order to bring the show of Cuban art to Aleksander Bassin, Director of the Mestna to New York. It was primarily thanks to him that this was pos- Galerija (City Museum). He accepted, and we got started. sible. Likewise, the directors of Exit Art, Jeanette Ingberman That’s how Lista de espera (Waiting List), the first, smaller and Papo Colo, opened the doors of this terrific institution version of the current project, was born. to the project and adopted it as their own. They encouraged us to expand it, especially the performance art section, in I decided to develop an idea I had since 2001 when I was keeping with the tradition of this exhibition space. We are documenting the Ludwig Collection of Cuban art, most of very thankful to them and to their wonderful team: Sarah Ry- which is located at the Ludwig Forum in Aachen, Germany. I hanen, Mary Katherine Matalon, Bryan Mesenbourg, Jodi realized that, despite their popularity in the 1980s, process- Hanel, Audrey Christensen, Fawad Khan and others. art and collective projects were notably absent from the col- lection.1 There was also no documentation of performances Why Time? and ephemeral works--some of which were standard refer- On March 13, 1957, a group of students from the University ences when the Ludwig Forum began to collect Cuban art- of Havana carried out a very bold action: they attempted -such as pioneer works by Leandro Soto, Hexágono, the to kill the then dictator Fulgencio Batista, in the Presiden- Puré and Provisional groups or the celebrated “Juego de tial Palace. Simultaneously, another group raided and took pelota” (“The Ball Game”).2 This collection was representa- over Radio Reloj, a radio station that alternated news and tive of the arrival of the art market to Cuba at the beginning commercial ads with the announcement of the official clock of the 1990s, which did not support or encourage the cre- time. The students sought changes in the political terrain ation of experimental, ephemeral, and critical proposals. and wanted to symbolically stop Batista’s clock while they proclaimed his execution. The attack failed and the students Official censorship worsened due to events that shook the were killed. Soon the resistance movement by university art scene at the end of the eighties.3 The situation during students was named The 13th of March as a tribute to these the last decade of the century was characterized by the dis- revolutionaries. missal of officials who defended artistic independence and the right of artists to free expression, the ostracism of artists, This date is not significant because of the result of the ac- and these artists’ virtual expulsion and exile from Cuba. tion, but rather because of its symbolism and the way that, with time, it acquired other meanings. During the 1970s and Interestingly enough, however, many artists on the island 1980s, The 13th of March came to designate the university continued producing groundbreaking works. Their innova- competition in the fine arts and specific art practices that tive spirit survived under these new circumstances, in part, treated art as “a weapon of the Revolution.” Later, in 1994, due to the labor of artists who functioned as a bridge be- this date was “resemanticized” into a symbol of tragedy. A tween generations, such as Lázaro Saavedra, René Fran- tugboat known as The 13th of March was occupied by doz- cisco Rodríguez, Tania Bruguera and Sandra Ceballos. ens of civil guards in their attempt to migrate to the United Younger artists, responding to the censorship and the arriv- States. When intercepted by a Cuban coast guard, the tug- al of the art market, strengthened their work and accessed boat sank. Dozens of people died, including many children. the international circuit. Outside the island, new voices Following the incident, which happened on July 13, 1994, emerged, showing a new face that superceded the histori- the so-called Rafters’ Crisis began. Thousands of people cally conservative artistic expression of the Cuban exile. left the island on improvised boats and precarious rafts. It is Groundbreaking artists like Ana Mendieta, José Bedia and not known how many people died in the attempted crossing Félix González-Torres became influential models.4 to reach the coasts of Florida.