Artist Tania Bruguera is calling for a boycott of the Havana Biennial, after agreeing to leave her homeland in exchange for the release of 25 prisoners. Valentina Di Liscia reports.
The Cuban government is using the 14th edition of the Havana Biennial, slated to open in mid-November, to “erase…the suffering of the Cuban people,” artist and activist Tania Bruguera said on social media today. Using the hashtag #ImmoralBiennial, Bruguera urged visitors to boycott the 2021 show, the island’s largest visual arts event.
Bruguera also disclosed this week that she agreed to leave the country in exchange for the release of 25 prisoners, including Hamlet Lavastida, the Cuban artist who had been held in a maximum-security prison in Havana for the last three months. In an interview with Radio Martí this Tuesday, Bruguera said she accepted an offer to join Harvard University as a senior lecturer in media and performance and used the opportunity to barter with the Cuban regime, which had been pressing her to leave the island.
“I said, ‘Look, you want me to leave, well now you have an opportunity,’” Bruguera explained. “But I’ll leave on the condition that you release [them], and I handed a list of several people... Keep reading on Hyperallergic.
The Cuban government is using the 14th edition of the Havana Biennial, slated to open in mid-November, to “erase…the suffering of the Cuban people,” artist and activist Tania Bruguera said on social media today. Using the hashtag #ImmoralBiennial, Bruguera urged visitors to boycott the 2021 show, the island’s largest visual arts event.
Bruguera also disclosed this week that she agreed to leave the country in exchange for the release of 25 prisoners, including Hamlet Lavastida, the Cuban artist who had been held in a maximum-security prison in Havana for the last three months. In an interview with Radio Martí this Tuesday, Bruguera said she accepted an offer to join Harvard University as a senior lecturer in media and performance and used the opportunity to barter with the Cuban regime, which had been pressing her to leave the island.
“I said, ‘Look, you want me to leave, well now you have an opportunity,’” Bruguera explained. “But I’ll leave on the condition that you release [them], and I handed a list of several people... Keep reading on Hyperallergic.