Press Release #6

6.03.2015 .
Havana, Cuba

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Havana, March 6, 2015- Tania Bruguera has been invited to the main exhibition atthe 56th Venice Biennale, from May 9 to November 22,2015.  She is the only Cuban artist resident in Cuba among the 136 artists and collectives from fifty-three countries in the list released this week by the organizers of the event. 

Bruguera was invited to the Biennale one year ago.  In this edition she will re-create her performance and video installation Untitled (Havana, 2000), which reflects on citizens’ intentional “blindness” to the reality of life under Fidel Castro’s regime. Through a multi-sensory experience, spectators will discover a reality full of contradictions. 

This piece was previouslyexhibited at the Havana Biennial in 2000 but after the inauguration, it was censored by Cuban authorities and it could not be repeated during the days the Biennial lasted, under the argument that male nakedness in public spaces is banned. 

The own artist has been a victim of the state’s repression against art and political role of the performance. She was detained three times by Cuban government at the beginning of the year, her Passport is confiscated and she cannot travel out of Cuba under charges brought by the Cuban government: inciting public disorder, resisting police and inciting to commit a crime, after trying to performance at the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana. 

The Venice Biennale was founded in 1895 and it is now one of the most famous and prestigious cultural organizations in the world.  La Biennale, who stands at the forefront of research and promotion of new contemporary art trends, organizes exhibitions and research in all its specific sectors:  Arts, Architecture, Cinema, Dance, Music, and Theatre. Its history is documented at the Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts (Asac) that recently has been completely renovated. 

ABOUT THE BIENNALE: http://www.labiennale.org/en/art/exhibition/artists/