CENTRO CULTURAL DE ESPAÑA EN MÉXICO, 2017 // INDIANAPOLIS MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART, 2016

Collaboration with:  Artur Silva and Elizabeth Webb

 

Transaction Boundaries I (iMOCA) and Transactions Boundaries II (CCEMX) examine strategies of resistance against mechanisms of power and exploitation. Cuba is a reference to understand the scope of upcoming perspectives for sociocultural, economic, and political transformations.

The show focuses on a recent historical moment–the opening of the U.S. diplomatic relations with Cuba in August  2015–in order to revisit outstanding examples of these dynamics over the course of Cuban history. Accordingly, it is important to underscore the powerful diplomatic channel the Catholic Church institution has performed in the process of this event.

While, In Cuba, religion has been one of the most representative and symbolic systems of cultural production. When various groups of people with different cultures and customs (Yoruba, Fon, Bantu, etc) were forcefully kept under one roof, negotiations were a crucial part of their coexistence. The Afro-Cuban religions, largely under the umbrella of Santeria, come out of those circumstances. Armed only with their memory and determination to keep some version of their cultures alive, they adapted the vast Yoruba mythology, assigning an African deity to a European Catholic saint to disguise their prohibited religion.

Additionally, capitalism is an economic infrastructure based on profit, private ownership, and debt as the archetype of social relations that introduces power differentials among people. Its most important form of production is subjectivity, which helps to mould and control society and its standards. The social and political circumstances derived from these dynamics have largely separated Cuba from this capitalist system. Now the island is open again to this kind of structure.

This exhibit explores the current power relations between the United States and Cuba through issues of representation, history, and cultural survival via colonial objects still active in the Americas today.

 

The Forbidden (Vedado), 2016 // Tinta sobre papel, pintura sobre muro, moldes de escayola // Dimensiones variables

 

Detail of The Forbidden (Vedado), 2016

 

Detail of The Forbidden (Vedado), 2016

 

Detail of The Forbidden (Vedado), 2016

 

Restitution, 2016 // Documentation of performance, Havana, Cuba, 2015 // 7 minutes 28 seconds

 

Limits in the Seas, 2016 // Laser-cut fax paper, map pins. Thermally printed receipts, high definition video, antique Cuban stamp book, offering jar // dimensions variable

 

Detail of Limits in the Seas, 2016

 

Detail of Limits in the Seas, 2016

 

Detail of Limits in the Seas, 2016

 

Detail of Limits in the Seas, 2016

 

Detail of One Hundred and Fifteen Words Since the Platt Amendment, 2016

 

 

 

 

 

transaction_048

 

 

 

The exhibition contains specific works originally conceived

for the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art -Indianapolis

and the participation of Elizabeth Webb, which was possible thanks

to the support from the Efroymson Family Fund -Indianapolis, U.S.