[Blake_Stimson,_Gregory_Sholette]_Collectivism_aft(z-lib
Performing Revolution 153marginal zone, and he saw a lot of things that he considered Cuban.” Interviewwith the author, Havana, December 12, 2002. Buergo’s solo exhibition “Roto Expone”(Broken Exhibition, Castillo de la Fuerza, June–July 1989) was a kind of extendedessay on the broken-down and oft-repaired objects of daily life that are ubiquitousin Cuban households, including an electric fan that, in Buergo’s treatment, was recognizedas a fully invented, sculptural object.54. The crucial antecedents for this sensibility in Cuban art are Chago, beginningin the 1960s, and later Tonel, in the 1980s.55. This may seem like a very short interval to bother taking note of, but in thecontext of the period a year or two was a relatively long time. Remarkably, whenTonel wrote about Puré’s inaugural exhibition he referred to it as “an assault on therelative homeostasis achieved in the 5 years following Volumen Uno.” Antonio Eligio(Tonel), “Acotaciones al relevo,” Temas 22 (1992): 61; reprinted in Memoria:Cuban Art of the 20th Century, ed. Veigas et al., 475. In other words, the situationwas so dynamic that Wve years was considered a long time for there not to have beena major new shift.56. This is Gerardo Mosquera’s term. Gerardo Mosquera, “Nuevos artistas,” ElCaimán Barbudo (Havana) 20, no. 228 (November 1986): 2–4; reprinted in Memoria:Cuban Art of the 20th Century, ed. Veigas et al., 475.57. There is an important exception in the work of Leandro Soto, a contemporaryof Volumen Uno, whose work presaged both the political tone of the later 1980sand also its performativity.58. Puré was especially inXuenced by Jonathan Borofsky, Keith Haring, and FrancescoClemente. In fact it was Garciandía, who was their teacher at the time, whohad introduced them to the work of these and other contemporary artists outsideof Cuba. Garciandía, who was a voracious consumer of information, was well informedabout developments in the international art world, and his students andfriends beneWted from his diligence.59. Eligio (Tonel), “Acotaciones al relevo,” 61.60. As Saavedra describes it, “when you went into the space of Puré, . . . you didnot go into an architectural space where objects were hung, you went into a spaceof virtual reality, into a three-dimensional world where you found a work on theXoor, on the ceiling, on the walls, wherever.” Interview with the author, Havana,December 12, 2002.61. While the group’s membership changed somewhat over time, those identi-Wed as members of the group in their self-produced video documentary are AlditoMenéndez, Pedro Vizcaíno, Erick Gómez, Iván Alvarez, Ernesto Leal, OWll Echevarría,Leandro Martínez, and Ariel Serrano.62. Ernesto Leal recalls it as follows: “That was the Wrst, like a kind of openingsalvo . . . That is, I don’t think that either the idea that it was a group existed consciouslyor any idea of the importance it would have.” Interview with the author,Havana, March 18, 2002.63. Eligio (Tonel), “Acotaciones al relevo,” 61.64. Ernesto Leal, interview with the author, Havana, March 18, 2002.65. This one-night event was staged at the Galería L on January 11, 1988.66. According to Ernesto Leal, “the idea was this notion of an opening, wherepeople go to have a drink and so on; so what we did was buy a lot to drink and geteverybody drunk, that was more or less the idea.” Interview with the author, Havana,March 18, 2002.
154 Rachel Weiss67. Personal possessions were also sold or bartered on a private level: in desperation,Cubans have traded in their furniture, cutlery, paintings, picture frames, statueson the family crypt, garden ornaments, and now even their books, which areresold (mostly to tourists) by street dealers in the old city.68. Glexis Novoa, interview with the author, Miami, December 30, 2002.69. Aldo Damián Menéndez, “Art Attack: The Work of ARTECALLE,” in CorpusDelecti: Performance Art of the Americas, ed. Coco Fusco (London: Routledge,2000), 277.70. Ibid., 278.71. Ernesto Leal, interview with the author, Havana, March 18, 2002.72. In “The Masked Philosopher” Michel Foucault makes a wonderful suggestionabout the value of anonymity: “Why have I suggested that I remain anonymous? Outof nostalgia for the time when, being completely unknown, what I said had somechance of being heard. The surface contact with some possible reader was withouta wrinkle.” Michel Foucault, “The Masked Philosopher,” in Foucault Live (New York:Semiotext(e), 1989, 1996), 302.73. Galería L, Havana, October 13, 1987. Participating artists included PedroVizcaíno, Erick Gómez, Hugo Azcuy, Iván Alvarez, Ernesto Leal, Max Delgado, AlánGonzález, OWll Echevarría, and Ariel Serrano.74. The title quotes from a patriotic poem by Mirta Aguirre, which suggests thatChe should not be reduced to history or to conveniently edited aspects of his revolutionarywork, meanwhile leaving aside the ethical demands that he set as his revolutionaryexample.75. Frency Fernández Rosales has blamed this provocation on the Group onHuman Rights headed by Ricardo BoWll in “La vocación inconclusa: Notas sobreArte Calle,” in Enema 2 y 3 (Havana: Instituto Superior de Arte, 2000), 49.76. Editorial de la redacción de la culture, “Arte es huir de lo mezquino, y aWrmarseen lo grande,” Juventud Rebelde (Havana), October 1987.77. “Ud. se equivocó de exposición,” unpublished typescript, October 1987, 4.Signed by Hugo Azcuy, Iván Alvarez, Max Delgado, OfWl Echevarría, Erick Gómez,Alán González, Ernesto Leal, Ariel Serrano, and Pedro Vizcaíno.78. In the Constitution of the Republic of Cuba, Chapter 4, Article 38, sectiond reads: “artistic creativity is free as long as its content is not contrary to the Revolution.Forms of expression of art are free.”79. In this, there is an interesting echo of Brazilian Tropicalismo at the end of the1960s, which also struck a position somewhere in between counterculture and orthodoxleft, incorporating the former and distancing itself from the latter. On ChristmasDay 1968, Caetano Veloso appeared on TV and sang a sentimental BrazilianChristmas song while holding a gun to his head. He and other tropicalistas were subsequently“invited” to go into exile.80. Grupo Provisional is identiWed by Camnitzer as consisting primarily of GlexisNovoa, Carlos Rodríguez Cárdenas, and Segundo Planes, with Planes as a much lessactive partner. In fact, Planes does not list the Grupo Provisional activities on hisresumé (the reference here is to the catalog for his major exhibition in 1993 at theGalería Ramis Barquet). According to Novoa the group was formed by him, Cárdenas,and Francisco Lastra.81. Glexis Novoa, interview with the author, Miami, December 30, 2002.82. Carlos Rodríguez Cárdenas, untitled grant application, 1997.83. Glexis Novoa, interview with the author, Miami, December 30, 2002. The
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Performing Revolution 153
marginal zone, and he saw a lot of things that he considered Cuban.” Interview
with the author, Havana, December 12, 2002. Buergo’s solo exhibition “Roto Expone”
(Broken Exhibition, Castillo de la Fuerza, June–July 1989) was a kind of extended
essay on the broken-down and oft-repaired objects of daily life that are ubiquitous
in Cuban households, including an electric fan that, in Buergo’s treatment, was recognized
as a fully invented, sculptural object.
54. The crucial antecedents for this sensibility in Cuban art are Chago, beginning
in the 1960s, and later Tonel, in the 1980s.
55. This may seem like a very short interval to bother taking note of, but in the
context of the period a year or two was a relatively long time. Remarkably, when
Tonel wrote about Puré’s inaugural exhibition he referred to it as “an assault on the
relative homeostasis achieved in the 5 years following Volumen Uno.” Antonio Eligio
(Tonel), “Acotaciones al relevo,” Temas 22 (1992): 61; reprinted in Memoria:
Cuban Art of the 20th Century, ed. Veigas et al., 475. In other words, the situation
was so dynamic that Wve years was considered a long time for there not to have been
a major new shift.
56. This is Gerardo Mosquera’s term. Gerardo Mosquera, “Nuevos artistas,” El
Caimán Barbudo (Havana) 20, no. 228 (November 1986): 2–4; reprinted in Memoria:
Cuban Art of the 20th Century, ed. Veigas et al., 475.
57. There is an important exception in the work of Leandro Soto, a contemporary
of Volumen Uno, whose work presaged both the political tone of the later 1980s
and also its performativity.
58. Puré was especially inXuenced by Jonathan Borofsky, Keith Haring, and Francesco
Clemente. In fact it was Garciandía, who was their teacher at the time, who
had introduced them to the work of these and other contemporary artists outside
of Cuba. Garciandía, who was a voracious consumer of information, was well informed
about developments in the international art world, and his students and
friends beneWted from his diligence.
59. Eligio (Tonel), “Acotaciones al relevo,” 61.
60. As Saavedra describes it, “when you went into the space of Puré, . . . you did
not go into an architectural space where objects were hung, you went into a space
of virtual reality, into a three-dimensional world where you found a work on the
Xoor, on the ceiling, on the walls, wherever.” Interview with the author, Havana,
December 12, 2002.
61. While the group’s membership changed somewhat over time, those identi-
Wed as members of the group in their self-produced video documentary are Aldito
Menéndez, Pedro Vizcaíno, Erick Gómez, Iván Alvarez, Ernesto Leal, OWll Echevarría,
Leandro Martínez, and Ariel Serrano.
62. Ernesto Leal recalls it as follows: “That was the Wrst, like a kind of opening
salvo . . . That is, I don’t think that either the idea that it was a group existed consciously
or any idea of the importance it would have.” Interview with the author,
Havana, March 18, 2002.
63. Eligio (Tonel), “Acotaciones al relevo,” 61.
64. Ernesto Leal, interview with the author, Havana, March 18, 2002.
65. This one-night event was staged at the Galería L on January 11, 1988.
66. According to Ernesto Leal, “the idea was this notion of an opening, where
people go to have a drink and so on; so what we did was buy a lot to drink and get
everybody drunk, that was more or less the idea.” Interview with the author, Havana,
March 18, 2002.