GROUP SHOW
Red
Date
December 4, 2008
Artists
Dariel de la Torre, Ernesto Leal, Fernando López, Jairo Gutiérrez, Kevin Beovides, Lainier Díaz, Levi Orta, Mauricio Abad, Naivy Pérez & Rewell Altunaga, Yoandy Hernández, Yunior & Celia, Yusnier Mentado.
Curated by
Rewell Altunaga
Gallery
Valle 70, House
Location
Havana, Cuba
Curatorial Statement
it would not be difficult to establish a correlation between the functions of art (and artists) at a given historical moment and the contextual provisions upon which the platform for creation is built. if the artist simply collides a heuristic potential with one of feasibility (at least that’s what carl andre thought), the work is subject to its medium from an absolute dependence, and it would make no sense to conceive of a work destined for non-realization due to the non-existence of its medium. this conjecture suggests that painting, as we know it today, would not have existed without the canvas, or sculpture without stone or clay, relegating the creative act to an artisanal execution based on what already exists.
however, it must be noted that not all universal artistic production has been conceived in terms of what is achievable through available materials. it is well known that artists from different periods such as da vinci, tatlin, duchamp, or dan graham, among others, envisioned works that exceeded their possibility of realization, some of which still today are not feasible to produce. this kind of creative ambition is symptomatic of many people involved in artistic creation, whether artists or not, and does not inherently pose a dilemma. nevertheless, it is a great paradox that some works center on the non-possibility of accessing their own medium.
in our context, there has not been a development of net art or other new media trends, either in artistic production or in the theoretical field, due to the non-existence of a platform to support and foster this type of art. strangely, this form of expression has remained sidelined in a country that has always been avant-garde in contemporary visual arts. this has created a dense atmosphere of repetition and uncertainty, a state of stand-by that affects everyone: institutions, spectators, and the public at large—especially the younger generations. this gap in our art history persists, and only now, after nearly two decades and in a non-institutional way, is a movement beginning to take shape around something that, since the early 1990s, has been evolving elsewhere in the world—even in poorer countries where the internet became a widely used medium for artistic expression. it was a very affordable option, allowing artists to create their works from a cybercafé or a public library. in the former socialist countries of eastern europe, this practice was very common in the 1990s, when the crisis caused by the collapse made artistic creation difficult. it is precisely vuk cosic, a slovenian, who coined the term net art in 1995.
in cuba, what little can be historically traced regarding this practice dates to the beginning of the current decade with where is luis gómez, a book written from within and without, and later free lands by ernesto leal. although both artists have developed a vast body of work largely outside the internet, and their use of this medium has been very limited, they were the first in our country to approach it in a meaningful way, using it not as a gallery, exhibition space, or promotional platform, but as the work itself.
Rewell Altunaga
Havana, Cuba