CUBA ART VIDEO
Videoart screening from CUBA
curator di Vladimir Gonzalez Portales
in collaborazion with the 26th Les Instants Vidéo Numériques et Poétiques festival”, Marseille
for the 50th anniversary of videoart
from 5 december to 15 january 2014
only on VisualcontainerTV
Curatorial Statement
In the 1980s, the meeting between video and experimental films gives birth to video art in Cuba. This art lives through different times according to the Island’s historical, social and political fluctuations. It adapts itself and leaves traces that inspired a new generation of artists. My interest in this art form brought me closer to these artists that I could mix with during my studies at the Beaux-Arts. Thus, this programme is the result of my meetings and my own feelings. I have obtained these videos in Cuba through the network of my relations, friends, acquaintances, teachers etc. I thank them especially for entrusting me with their work. Thus, their works should not be considered as a representative demonstration but as a mere fragment of creative and video processes that took place in the country. They are works that I love and through what they have given/taught me, they have influenced my artistic practice. Other videos could have been chosen for this programme but they were part of a larger artwork (installation or other) and bringing them out of their context would have lost their meaning. I have only chosen works that have been designed by artists to be projected on TV. This selection is therefore based on technical criteria to facilitate the screening and the understanding. Lastly, this selection reflects technological change since I have chosen works made in super 8 and HDV. The video format becomes the witness of its time just as the issues addressed in these videos reveal the evolution of Cuban society. This presentation therefore enables to highlight the existence of a wide variety of topics found in the works of Cuban artists: social issues such as daily difficulties, freedom and its correlative, manipulation, the promotion of what builds the Cuban identity, parties, music, dance and many others…
I wish this selection of works could convey another vision of Cuban artistic reality. I thank Marc Mercier and the Instants Vidéo Numériques et Poétiques that allowed the realisation of this project by opening space for reflection on video art in Cuba. (Vladimir Gonzales Portales)
(Translation Elisabeth Grech)
Video Screening
VIP (4’10, 2009) / Vladimir Gonzalez Portales
TRUTH 0006 Memoria Directa (0’31, 2002) / Jorge Wellesley-Bourke Marín
00000000000 (1’36, 2002) / Vladimir Gonzalez Portales
El sindrome de la sospecha (2’57, 2004) / Lázaro Saavedra
Metástasis (1’08, 2008) / Kenia Arguiñao Vega
Entre terre et horizon (0’50, 2005) / Vladimir Gonzalez Portales
Ciudadano 0 (1’23, 2004) / Vladimir Gonzalez Portales
La gloria borra la memoria (1’14, 2006) / Lázaro Saavedra
El cuervo albino (3’04, 2007) / Lázaro Saavedra
Ausencia 1 (7’54, 2008) / Francisco Espinosa Rossié (Pako)
Objeto Transparente (1’10, 2008) / Kenia Arguiñao Vega
Los liquidos (2’25, 2005) / Lázaro Saavedra
Traduccion (4’39, 2007) / Luis Gómez Armenteros
Hormigas (1’07, 2004) / Vladimir Gonzalez Portales
Livido (4’02, 2001) / Douglas Argüelles Cruz
A dream with out (2’38, 2003) / Luis Gómez Armenteros
Animados (2’14, 1997) / Lázaro Saavedra
Deja castigar tu cuerpo y conservaras la cabeza (1’15, 2006) / Lázaro Saavedra
Serie : El artista (1’41, 2002) / Jorge Wellesley- Bourke Marín
Sinestésica (3’08, 2003) / Douglas Argüelles Cruz
Reflejos (2’07, 2005) / Vladimir Gonzalez Portales
El que no sabe es como el que no ve (1’27, 2006) / Lázaro Saavedra
PlayBack (2’55, 2006) / Vladimir Gonzalez Portales
TRUTH 0007 Barrera (1’29, 2002) / Jorge Wellesley- Bourke Marín
Espacio-vital (6’48, 2002) / Douglas Argüelles Cruz
Truth 0013 Esto si es action painting (1’02, 2003) / Jorge Wellesley- Bourke Marín