By Mike Fuller
Havana, Mar 28 (Prensa Latina) Outside a former colonial fortress a group of Cuban art students and professors support a colossal fusion of creative decolonizing power at the Havana Biennial.
The tenth edition of this exhibition from March 27 to April 30 includes over 200 artists from 40 countries concerned with integrating against homogenizing forces amid global complexity.
The pursuit of identity against the center without falling into its conceptual traps calls for interrogation of the core-periphery paradigm itself.
On the official bienalhabana website Nelson Herrera deconstructs that dynamic by affirming that artists from the so-called third world have always been contributors to universal culture, albeit historically marginalized.
A student and a professor from the National School of Art Instructors explained to Prensa Latina they have been backing up the Havana Biennial for over two weeks from a campground in a depression outside the bastion walls.
Darian Izquierdo laid his mallet next to a wood carving and said he and his classmates have helped out by hanging huge paintings, filling sand bags and much more.
His teacher Alfredo Duque said they've also done work in municipalities recovering from hurricanes, supporting major Cuban artists in that effort like Alexis Leyva (Kcho), known for his creative healing energy.
Duque nudged his work in progress, called Birth of the World, a reclined carving that rocks like a cradle from stretched cables. He said it has to do with rebirth, dislocation, and explained that his family is originally from the Congo, of Ganga Longoba ethnicity.
Questioned about its totemic qualities, the sculptor says he broke with verticality to show insecurity, like a "hernia of doubt" between generations of slaves that includes guarded secrets.
The close relationship between student and mentor is evident as Darian listens to his professors analysis of the work inside versus what they do with their chisels. "They are more conceptual, whereas in our work you can see the hand of the creator."
The wood chips on the ground are testimony to that, but there are plenty of well-crafted pieces inside and as the friendly teacher says about his own work, they refuse to be excluded.
Havana, Mar 28 (Prensa Latina) Outside a former colonial fortress a group of Cuban art students and professors support a colossal fusion of creative decolonizing power at the Havana Biennial.
The tenth edition of this exhibition from March 27 to April 30 includes over 200 artists from 40 countries concerned with integrating against homogenizing forces amid global complexity.
The pursuit of identity against the center without falling into its conceptual traps calls for interrogation of the core-periphery paradigm itself.
On the official bienalhabana website Nelson Herrera deconstructs that dynamic by affirming that artists from the so-called third world have always been contributors to universal culture, albeit historically marginalized.
A student and a professor from the National School of Art Instructors explained to Prensa Latina they have been backing up the Havana Biennial for over two weeks from a campground in a depression outside the bastion walls.Darian Izquierdo laid his mallet next to a wood carving and said he and his classmates have helped out by hanging huge paintings, filling sand bags and much more.
His teacher Alfredo Duque said they've also done work in municipalities recovering from hurricanes, supporting major Cuban artists in that effort like Alexis Leyva (Kcho), known for his creative healing energy.
Duque nudged his work in progress, called Birth of the World, a reclined carving that rocks like a cradle from stretched cables. He said it has to do with rebirth, dislocation, and explained that his family is originally from the Congo, of Ganga Longoba ethnicity.
Questioned about its totemic qualities, the sculptor says he broke with verticality to show insecurity, like a "hernia of doubt" between generations of slaves that includes guarded secrets.
The close relationship between student and mentor is evident as Darian listens to his professors analysis of the work inside versus what they do with their chisels. "They are more conceptual, whereas in our work you can see the hand of the creator."
The wood chips on the ground are testimony to that, but there are plenty of well-crafted pieces inside and as the friendly teacher says about his own work, they refuse to be excluded.
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