Taking up again a product of 20th-century art—mobiles—and applying present-day technology with his own sabre and refined sensitivity, Japanese artist Masato Tanaka (Yokohama, 1961) presents a group of kinetic sculptures which bring about reflections of profound philosophic and humane character.

“When faced with the work of Jeannine Achon, the viewer may wonder if it is a painting or a collage of forms, if the patches of colour are in disarray or in an orderly manner, if poetics is linked to abstractionism or to constructivism…Jeannine’s pieces seem to reconcile opposites, given that the artist plays the whole time with a lack of definition, as though constructing and deconstructing at the same time each and every constituent element of her paintings…There is movement in her patches of colour, but the horizontal and vertical lines that are manifested everywhere support a vigorous, almost concrete-like, structure. It is strong, but hardy noticeable.
The limits of colo and truth
By Toni Pinera

For his second personal exhibition, photographer Erick Coll has selected 12 black and white shots in which, according to its curator, Daymi Coll, “The aesthetic language reaffirms the conceptual platform of these works. The formal effects, specifically the play with shadows, the contrasts, the spatial layout, the awareness of the environment and the different situations suggest the search for a story, a mark, or a discourse based on gestures.”

Joining in the celebration of four centuries of Cuban literature, this exhibition features work by 12 artists/writers from colonial times to the 20th-century. The paintings of Juana Borrero, Carlos Enriquez, Marcelo Pogolotti, Aristides Fernandez, Julio Girona, Felipe Orlando, Fayad Jamis, Pedro de Oraa, Samuel Feijoo, Cleva Solis, Adagio Benitez and Miguel Collazo, accompanied by fragments of their own writings, allow the viewer to approach the wide thematic and formal range of these masters of words and brush.

Under the topic “Understanding Contemporariness from the Mass Media”, the 12th Salon de la Ciudad will aim to foster a space for the intervention of visual arts in today’s debate on the role of the mass media as “power” tools for reconstructing reality, and establishing consumer patterns and aesthetic canons.
On 6 June, starting at 10:00 am, at the Government Palace Conference Hall (Oficios esquina a Muralla, La Habana Vieja), important Cuban experts will lecture on a number of topics that include, among others, “Where from...who...how? Video art and new media in contemporary Cuban art,” “Technology: art and communication in the modern age,” “Globalized media, the artist, and art.”

Personal exhibition by painter Niels Reyes.

Fidel Garcia and Josue Hernandez, undergraduate students of the Arts Institute of Havana, present their diploma work.

Personal exhibition by painter and sculptress Yamile Pardo.

Collective exhibition of photographs of the legendary Argentinean-Cuban guerrilla.

Any exhibition by artist Jose A. Toirac—one of the most important Cuban artists of recent years, who since 1995 has made a name for himself internationally—arouse the interest of critics and experts, owing to the disturbing conceptual connotations of his work, expressed by way of installations, drawings and paintings.

De Todo un Poco
Galeria Diago
Muralla 107, entre Mercaderes y San Ignacio, La Habana Vieja
Tel. 7 861 9544

From her experience as an architect and a photographer, with a precise mastery of colour, light and composition, in her stained-glass window paintings, Nancy Reyes recreates Havana scenes. The artist, who is also well-known for her pictures on ballet, recognizes that the city of Havana is a permanent source of inspiration for her.

Painter, draughtsman and engraver, Rafael Zarza has explored the Spanish and African roots of the Cuban nationality, whose symbols, in particular the bull, take on special meanings and values in his baroque, expressionist and profoundly Cuban work.

Painting and ceramics about the Cuban landscape by Jesús Lara, who despite using contemporary techniques is profoundly romantic when he portrays his moods, expressed in very personal colours, rhythms and textures.

Collective exhibition by Kadir Lopez, Kelvin Lopez, Fidel Mico, Joel Ferrer, Adigio Benitez, Lester Campa, Alan Gonzalez and Racial Gomez, who propose very different ways of approaching landscape art, which, for quite a while, seemed exhausted and today is showing an unexpected surge.

Drawings, paintings and installations by artist Frank Martinez, winner of La Joven Estampa Prize, organized by Casa de las Americas in 2001 with his work En estos casos se hace imprescindible mantener la punta seca, I, II y III.

Juan Carlos Alom, one of the leading names of present-day photography in Cuba, noted for his treatment of the nude and Afro-Cuban theme, was selected by Time Magazine as one of the ten principal Latin American photographers of the millennium.

“Luis Alonso is an excellent graphic designer whose interest in this type of photography was triggered by a “newly” discovered object: cutlery. But he did not just photograph forks and knives and spoons: he concocted a story, he built a world of forms… “(en)cubiertos” is an excellent and clever exhibition—Alonso’s first—which unequivocally evidences what Giorgio Vasari called disegno referring to composition in a work of art. It is also an essay that is decorative in appearance in which good photography and meticulousness, as well as the sublimation of an ordinary object, make this exhibition a quite uncommon event in our circles.
” Excerpt from Ensayo de operacion encubierta"
By Elvia Rosa Castro

Fifteen pieces by young artist Alain Pino who has said that he works “with the notion of limits, boundaries, both for the individual and society” in works with a strong conceptual and political component, although he assures that the pieces that comprise “Tropicos” form part of a new phase in his career.

Artists Guillermo Ramirez Malberti, Remberto Ramirez, David Placeres, Daniel Torres and Octavio Marin celebrate a quarter of a century since their graduation from the National Arts School with this collective exhibition that includes sculptures, paintings and drawings.

On the 85 anniversary of his birth and as a tribute to the richness of his work, his vocation for teaching and his tireless work as a collector, a whole year—from May 2008 to May 2009—will be dedicated to pay tribute Servando Garcia Moreno, one of the most outstanding Cuban painters of the 20th century. The celebrations of this tribute began last May with the opening of two exhibitions: “Todos los Recuerdos de Sevilla,” a collection of oil paintings that Garcia Moreno dedicated to this Spanish city, and “La Captura de las Voces,” with engravings, drawings and photographs by Spaniards Antonio and Carlos Saura, very close friends of the Cuban artist.

As part of the celebrations on occasion of the World Environment Day (5 June), nine artists give their own different views of the Cuban rural landscape: Roberto Alfonso, Manuel Antonio Álvarez (Lolo), Eduardo Estrada, Dionel Delgado, Enrique Garcia, Pedro Pablo Dominguez, Yussuan Remolina Amador, Rene Luis Pons and Ángel Francisco Manzane.

Ileana Mulet, a painter who for years has focused on the urban landscape of Colonial Havana, exhibits paintings and poems, which go from expressionism to magic realism, using the salamander—for her, symbol of life and the aspiration to a harmonic relation with the environment—as leitmotiv.

A selection of pictures taken over the years by photographers from the Associated Press news agency, which since 1935 has documented through pictures the most important events of its time the world over.

One of the greatest passions among Cubans, the game of domino, serves as pretext for the artist Silvio Antonio Meneses to take an incisive look at the existentialist problems of his fellow countrymen and women.

This annual popular festivity of Caribbean cultures, initiated in 1980, aims at harmonizing the identities of the peoples of the region beyond geographic and linguistic diversity. Considered Cuba's most Caribbean city, Santiago de Cuba is the natural venue for this colourful and joyful celebration-dedicated to fire and its genesis symbolism-which combines dances, rhythms and rituals of strong African centuries-old presence syncretized into the national identity. The "El Caribe que nos une" (The Caribbean which Unites Us All) international colloquium focuses on issues related to the preservation, development and dissemination of Caribbean cultural diversity, as well as actions which could contribute to the unity of the region and promote a cultural exchange with the rest of America and the world.

Carnival festivities in Santiago de Cuba go back to the late 17th century with the annual procession on the feast of Santiago Apostol, the patron saint of the town. During colonial times, slaves were granted permission by the Spanish authorities to celebrate the Epiphany with their own music and dance. By the end of the 19th century, these festivities were also held in June and July in celebration of various patron saints days. At the beginning of the 20th century, comparsas (neighbourhood dance groups) and processions of decorated floats began to parade down the streets-a tradition that is still observed. Although many Cuban towns hold their own carnival festivities, none attracts a greater crowd than the Santiago carnival: the whole city seems to move to the rhythm of conga lines, the sound of the Chinese trumpet and dozens of percussion instruments, both traditional and unconventional-bass drums, congas, pots and pans, and spoons-which lead dancing crowds down the steep roads of the city.

Initiated with great success in February 2007 in Havana with the aim of acquainting audiences with the cinematic production of the region, the series of films were exhibited in Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Barbados, Bahamas, Saint Lucia, Belize, Aruba, Antigua and Barbuda, Curaçao, Surinam, Guyana, Martinique, Guadalupe, Haiti, Cuba, Dominican Republican and Puerto Rico. This year, the event, which is organized by UNICEF and UNESCO, will be dedicated to feature-length films, documentaries and animated films for children and adolescents, and will include countries from the Caribbean continent, such as Colombia, Venezuela and Panama.

Hip hop became a sensation in Cuba during the 1990s when this festival was born. Since then, the event has attracted an increasing number of hip hop artists from other countries, as well as featuring many important local groups. There are more than 1,000 rap groups in Cuba today. More recently, the festival has also included rap dancing, graffiti artists, a series of films, and a colloquium with discussion of hip hop culture and issues regarding this type of music which has delved into controversial aspects of Cuban life, such as racism and emerging economic inequalities.