The project Detrás del muro was one of the highlights of the Eleventh Havana Biennial, the idea of intervening a space as the Malecón (Havana promenade), marked for decades by social interaction and confluence, and resulted in extremely attractive, especially by the particular communication established between the public and the works. The first edition of this sample featured an extensive list of Cuban and foreign artists who boosted installation and performance works, calling for greater involvement of the receptor.
The present edition of the event, in the context of the Twelfth Havana Biennial, aims to bring together a larger group of creators, some participants of the above show, for them to interact all along the Havana coastline, since Antonio Maceo Park to La Punta Fortress. The tour will be distinguished by the positioning of works, not only on the wall that separates the sea from the city; as these will also be found in the wide promenade surrounded by buildings, located in front of the aforementioned enclave.
Moreover, the exhibition aims to be a unifying and interdisciplinary deployment, because it will not focus only on the visual appearance; on the contrary, will feature various art forms where writers, actors and musicians converge. The proposed actions keep the desire to extend the Biennial to a wider audience and give it a social character. Thus, the set is intended to have an impact in different cultural levels, taking such artery as central axis.
En el Medio de la Nada (In the Middle of Nowhere) is the title of the exhibition, which in the words of its curator, Juan Delgado Calzadilla, refers to the condition of the Malecon of being a sort of no man’s land, a kind of boundary that marks the presence of Nothingness in its various interpretations. The pieces will have a wide variety of formats and in some cases will be distinguished by placing alternative environments within the space itself.
The sea as ultimate purpose or beginning of all things, with containment and overflowing of surrounding urbanization, returns to be shelter and stage, reason for dialogue and silences, pretext for another meeting.
