‘Art has been repressed’: Cuban artists call for cancellation of Havana Biennial
Cuban artists both on and off the island and human rights activists in Cuba have begun to promote a Twitter campaign against hosting the next Havana Biennial.
The Havana Biennial, organized by the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center, will celebrate its 14th edition from Nov. 12, 2021, to April 30, 2022, and this time it will present significant changes in its structure and duration. For the first time the event will cover a period of almost six months and will be divided into three stages.
According to the Biennial protesters, the Cuban regime intends to use the event to clean up its image all the while engaging in the repression of artistic and individual freedoms.
Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist and promoter of the Twitter campaign Juliana Emilia Fusco Miyares, also known as Coco Fusco, explained on Twitter that as long as artists are jailed and there are hundreds of detainees for having participated in the July protests, she rejects hosting the biennial.
“On behalf (…) of all those threatened by calling a march in November, I say NO to the Havana Biennial. Join me in saying no,” Fusco said.
Artist Hamlet Lavastida, who was imprisoned for three months in Cuba’s Villa Marista prison under the alleged charge of “incitement to crime,” also joined this initiative. On Twitter he uploaded a photo of himself holding posters that read “#policebiennial” and “no to the police biennial of Havana.”
Artists Tania Bruguera, Marcos Castillo, Luis Trápaga and Juan Melo, the curator Rafael Díaz Casas and musician Paquito D’Rivera, among others, have also joined the call.
“NoaLaBienalDeLaHabana because art has been repressed day by day,” wrote Cuban writer and journalist Jorge de Armas.
“The Havana Biennial cannot be used as a patch to try to cover a general crisis in Cuba. The state cannot use art like a shield to exercise violence with impunity. It is not about boycotting, it is about what is wrong,” said visual artist Julio Llopiz-Casal.
Cuba’s Vice Minister of Culture Fernando Rojas once again tried to discredit the artists participating in this initiative, saying that they were only a few, with limited success, and classified the behavior as an attack of “schizophrenia.”
“In reality, it’s only a few who allow themselves to be pressured. And those who pressure them are anti-establishment activists who, surprisingly, treat the victims just as harshly as their oppressors. Pure schizophrenia. Just look at the paltry professional accomplishments of those who are behind the attacks on the very popular Biennial,” he wrote on Twitter.
Director and producer Lilo Vilaplana responded to Rojas’ tweet with condemnation.
“Pressure? Like decree 349? Like arresting unarmed people who want FREEDOM for marching against the so-called blockade. What a son of a (expletive) you are, Fernando,” he tweeted.
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This story was originally published October 11, 2021 at 5:37 PM.