Interview with Tania Bruguera

with Abby Luby
December 2009

From: Luby, Abby “Interview with Tania Bruguera,” December, 2009. For Stamford Advocate in Connecticut, United States.

Download PDF

Interview with Tania Bruguera

with Abby Luby

What is your vision for the show at Neuberger Museum of your work in January?

This show is a challenge because it will be the first time that my work, which involves the performative and a very specific idea of the experience and the contextual, will be put together in a neutral landscape to be observed. The main two challenges are how to handle that much live art simultaneously and how to provide and locate the original context for the work.

Can you explain Arte de Conducta and how it relates to some of your pieces? What is challenging about creating for audience response?

Arte de Conducta is roughly translated as Behavior Art, in spanish it has the same connotation of social and legal manners but also it refers to the condition of conductivity. My work has evolved to focus on the civil aspect of society and the desire to generate conversation and discussion about ethics, the best conduit i found is behavior which is the “language” used in society.

Can you explain the quote below?  (it was in a press release) and how do you (have you) applied this to a piece of art or performance piece?

“I look for devices such as memory and rumor to act in the delivery and archiving of information.”

One example is the piece i did in Havana for six years, in the form of an art school, where the only way you had to see the piece was to participate in it and the main way to know about it while the project was in motion was to hear from someone who was in it and then decide if you wanted to be part of it or not. now that the project is closed we are preparing a book with Charta publisher, which is a way to visualize memory. Life memory is the way i would like for my work to “survive” like one does with lived experiences.