|
ESPACIO
AGLUTINADOR (THE GATHERING SPACE)
La Habana, Cuba
Director: Sandra Ceballos
Curators: Sandra Ceballos y Rene Quintana
aglutsan@cubarte.cult.cu
"ESPACIO AGLUTINADOR " was created in the city of La
Havana in 1994. The space is located in the house of two Cuban fine
artists: Sandra Ceballos and Rene Quintana.
An emergency cultural space was needed in Cuba were more daring
curational works were to be done, aloof the censorship margin. A
space away from the limits and the established official and academic
canons, such as: the sole promotion of fashionable artists, well-known
artists, graduates from the ISA (Higher Institute of Art) or the
young artists who constantly interact with the official Cuban institutions
in search of advancement.
This is a place where Art will not be judged by the personality
or attitude of its creators, which gets free from the taboos that
prevented some Cuban artists from showing their works from the exile.
This is a place free of bureaucratic mechanisms and with purist
and committed postures. In other words, it is a simple place for
creation and the recycling of good art.
To reaffirm our ideas, in its inception the following text was published
on the back cover of the exhibition catalogues: ESPACIO AGLUTINADOR
is meant to show and disseminate the work of Cuban artists of all
castes- whether dead or alive, in or outside Cuba, young or old,
well-known or unknown, promoted or forgotten, humble or arrogant-
as long as their work is of a quality without contrast and above
all, if they have the necessary dosage of honesty and uneasiness
before their own creation of true art.
ESPACIO AGLUTINADOR is a cultural space not a boutique. It expects
to be neither an avant-garde nor a populist or a passing space,
it just wants to be, or become to be FAIR. Its unique commitment
is with art.
It is not a project. It is not just a beautiful idea written out
by a highly organized brain. ESPACIO AGLUTINADOR is a fact, that
is happening quickly and naturally.
The possibilities of making mistakes are countless.
If there is something ESPACIO AGLUTINADOR runs away from is coherence,
that boring and sick goodness of consciousness.
Charles Baudelaire said:” Art is large”
ESPACIO AGLUTINADOR says: “What a clever man!”
ESPACIO AGLUTINADOR has held more than 50 art exhibitions. The
works of several artists have been shown, Cuban artists who reside
on the island as well as expatriate Cuban artists, foreign artists
of well known background and emerging creators. Besides, performances,
literature readings with young writers and of well known artistic
background, Cuban musical shows , conferences and so on, have been
done.
It is very usual, in our curational style, to gather in the same
show highly acknowledged artists with totally unknown ones, graduates
from art schools with self taught artists, expatriated artists with
resident ones. We also, hold collective exhibitions which are worked
upon a certain topic with different stylistic and conceptual proposals.
We have done a very careful and devoted work with the discriminated
artists, discriminated by the Cuban cultural institutions as well
as for their personality, their attitude or their poor economic
situation. So works by artist who had been in prison, potatoes vendors,
postmen, forgotten artists, outcasts, some insane people, religion
believers so on and so forth were shown in our space.
ESPACIO AGLUTINADOR was invited to prestigious international events
such as:
-”From Sierra Maestra to Havana” a show by the Cuban artist
Santiago Armada (Chago) curated jointly with the curator and artist
Luis Camnitzer for the Drawing Center of New York, 2000.
- FAIR, the International Fair of Alternative Spaces at the Royal
College of London, in March, 2002.
-ARCO Fair, (within the non commercial project of the Cuban curator
Magda Gonzales, called “Scanner”), Madrid, in February
2003.
-Liste 03, the International Art Fair of Basilea, Switzerland, June
2003.
We have been supported modestly by some artists, the Ministry of
Culture of Spain, the Foundations Prins Claus e Hivos of Holland
and by our own economic support.
|