CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART CUBA PROJECT
CIA brings Cuban culture and scholarship to Northeast Ohio during this exclusive yearlong series of events. Noted Cuban artists live, teach, and create in Cleveland as artists-in-residence at the college. You’ll see the culture of a nation weave through generations as emerging and established Cuban artists share their talent and vision. Plan to attend one or all of the events this semester and check back for our series of Cuba Project events scheduled for our fall semester.
Winter/Spring Public Events
OPEN STUDIOS
March 1 and 22, 2012, 6pm
Location: CIA's Joseph McCullough Center 11610 Euclid Avenue Room 210A
Meet CIA's artists-in-residence and view the work they've created during the residency.
A CONVERSATION AT SPACES
Thursday, March 15, 2012, 6:30pm
Join artists Jose Toirac and Meira Marrero as they discuss Cuban art and culture at Spaces gallery.
FINAL EXHIBITION -- THE CUBA PROJECT: WORKS IN RESIDENCE
Friday, March 30, 2012, 5-6pm
Location: 1st Floor, CIA's Joseph McCullough Center, 11610 Euclid Avenue
See the complete work of this year's Cuban artists-in-residence. At 6pm the event moves to Reinberger Galleries in CIA's Gund Building for the opening of The Art of Scale + Form, CIA's spring gallery show. That show will include video work by Alex Hernandez Duenas.
CUBA PROJECT SYMPOSIUM
Saturday, February 11, 2012, 12:30pm
Location: Cleveland Institute of Art, Aitken Auditorium, 11141 East Boulevard
Plan to attend this rare opportunity to hear from Cuban artists and scholars as they discuss dynamic issues surrounding Cuban art and culture. This event is free and open to the public.
Schedule of Events
- 12:30pm Welcome and introduction by Grafton Nunes, CIA President + CEO; and David Hart, CIA Associate Professor of Art History
- 1pm Keynote presentation by Rachel Weiss, Professor, Arts Administration and Policy, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, author of To Build the Sky: To and From Utopia in the New Cuban Art
- 2pm Panel discussion featuring Cuban artists Meira Marrero, José Toirac and Alex Hernández Dueñas; along with Rachel Weiss and David Hart
- 3pm Reception
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Alex Hernández Dueñas
Born in 1982 in Havana, Cuba; lives and works in Havana, Cuba
Too young to know the Cuban Revolution, Hernández responds to the present situation in Cuba through his exploration of globalization and homogenization of the individual. His films and documentaries reclaim the multiple dimensions of identity as he captures the corruptive behavior of wealth and privatization. Zona afectada confronts these topics as the viewer watches helplessly as a man labors to carry water to his home. The agonizing nine minutes give a stimulating insight into the daily challenges and complexities of Hernández’s native society.
In addition to several international residencies, Hernández has also shown in numerous exhibitions at the Museo Rufino Tamayo (Mexico), Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wilfredo Lam (Havana) and the Brooklyn Museum (New York). Hernández has also participated in the eighth and ninth Havana Biennials, as well as the Muestra Joven Cuban Film Festival.
José Toirac
Born in 1966 in Guantánamo, Cuba; lives and works in Havana, Cuba.
Working in painting, photography and installations, José Toirac exposes the satire of the overwhelming power that images take on in contemporary culture, as well as the ambiguous boundaries between politics, history and religion. There is a surprising element of objectivity to his work, making it universal, while still maintaining its heavily contextualized Cuban origins. Toirac presents a realistic and neutral religious scene in Ave Maria using a harmonious and alluring variety of Virgin Mary figures. The installation serves as a celebration of diversity and equality in Cuba achieved through a provocative religious context.
Toirac received his degree in Fine Arts from the Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana. He has exhibited in solo shows internationally at the Pulse Art Fair in Miami, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes (Havana), and Art in General (New York). He has also appeared in numerous group shows at the Museum of Modern Art (New York), the Whitney Museum of American Art (New York), the Arizona State University Art Museum, and the IVAM (Valencia, Spain).
Meira Marrero
Born in 1969 in Havana, Cuba; lives and works in Havana, Cuba.
Since 1994, Meira Marrero and José Toirac have been collaborating together on projects surrounding the appropriation of images. As an art critic, curator and historian, Marrero shares her vast historical and political knowledge with Toirac as they walk the fine line between poetic expression and truth. In Ave Maria, Marrero questions the promises of salvation as Toirac materializes these doubts in a vibrant assortment of religious icons.
The artistic team has been shown internationally at the Mattress Factory (Pittsburgh), Factoría Compostela (Santiago de Compostela, Spain), Museé des Beux-Arts de Montréal (Québec, Canada), and the Cultural Centers Banco do Brasil (Sao Pualo, Brazil). Marrero has been the recipient of many prestigious awards including the National Curatorship Award for her collaborative exhibit with Toirac for Orbis: Tribute to Walker Evans in 2008.
Cleveland Institute of Art’s Cuba Project is made possible by generous support from the Cleveland Foundation through its Creative Fusion initiative.