Art Brut Project Cuba at DOCUMENTA 15

 

From August 17th – 27th, Art Brut Project Cuba was invited to DOCUMENTA 15, one of the top contemporary art events worldwide, held every 5 years at Kassel, Germany. A wide selection of works by 30 Cuban Art Brut and Outsider Art artists were included as part of the exhibition “The Academy of Bejuco” – curated by Tania Bruguera, one of the main Cuban contemporary artists of wide recognition and international presence, together with fellow Cuban curators Clara Astiasarán and Ernesto Oroza. The invitation to participate in DOCUMENTA 15 was made by the Hannah Arendt Institute of Artivism (INSTAR), an independent organization founded and directed by Tania Bruguera.

 

 

 

This edition of Documenta has as its central concept, the actions of artistic collectives. INSTAR is one of the lumbung organizations invited through the presentation of the project: Operational FACTOGRAPHY, which shows a counter-narrative of Cuban cultural history through ten staged exhibitions. Each exhibition exhibited a specific project or practice in Cuba that has been subject to censorship and/or undervaluation by the Cuban government system, integrating various manifestations: visual arts, literature, journalism, cinematographic arts, theatre and music. Art Brut Project Cuba was one of the invited projects, bringing together a collective of artists – who create from their own individualities – marginalized by the official Cuban culture. The artists exhibited from Art Brut Project Cuba were the following:

 

Abel Sánchez Aguilar, Bernardo Sarria Almoguea, Boris Adolfo Martin Santamaría, Carlos Javier García Huergos, Cesar Andrés León Rodriguez, Damián Valdés Dilla, Darién Robaina Alonso, Dianelis Massip López, Duniesky Ávila Bordas, Esperanza Conde Rodriguez, Felipe, Gloria de la Caridad García Hernandez, Guillermo Rigoberto Casola Marcos, Héctor Gonzalez Herrero, Irving Antonio Beladiola Miranda, Jesús Espinosa Carrillo, Joan Ramírez Flores, Jorge Francisco García Lastayo, Josvedy Jove Junco, Julián Espinosa Rebollido (a.k.a Wayacon), Lázaro Antonio Martinez Duran, Luciano, Luis de Jesús Sotorrios Fábregas, Marcos Antonio Guerrero Herrera, Miguel Ramón Morales Diaz, Roberto O´Farrill Multan, Rubén Gerardo Guerrero Garrido, Taimy Linares Rabago, Víctor Miguel Moreno Piñeiro y Yainara García Rousseaux.

 

 

 

As part of the exhibition, Art Brut Project Cuba and the curators also organized a series of lectures and panels with the participation of important international specialists in the field of Art Brut and Outsider Art:

 

 

-"Art Brut: an evolving notion from 1945 until today" by Sarah Lombardi, Director of La Collection de l'Art Brut. Lausanne, Switzerland.

 

 

- "Outsider Art – Art like any other?" by Thomas Röske, Director of Prinzhorn Collection, Clinic for General Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany and President for European Outsider Art Association.

 

 

- "Collectives Practices - Museum of Naive and Marginal Art, Sebia: Boundaries, intersections/traces, and landmarks" by Ivana Jovanović, Senior Curator and Museum Advisor at Museum of Naive and Marginal Art, Jagodina, Serbia.

 

 

- " La “S” Grand atelier. Open Source, Pop-Up and Belgian-Style Fries" by Anne-Françoise Rouche, Director of La « S » Grand Atelier Centre d'Art Brut & Contemporain, Vielsalm, Belgium / Baptiste Brun, Co-Director of the Department of Art History and Archaeology, Université Rennes 2, Rennes, France / Noëlig Le Roux, Independent Curator with exhibitions at La Maison Rouge (France), Musee International des Arts Modestes (France), Museo Reina Sofia (Spain) and Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology (Portugal).