Where Is Havana’s #OOBiennial At? (+Video)

Yanelys Nunez Leyva

HAVANA TIMES — During this time of withdrawn silence, the organizing team behind the #00Bienal in Havana (made up by Luis Manuel Otero, Iris Ruiz, Amaury Pacheco, Jose Ernesto Alonso, Yuri Obregon, among other collaborators) have made great progress. The event is set for May 5-15.

Here, I will share some of this progress with you and also take the opportunity to share the new campaign we have made to collect funds for carrying out this event.

00 Bienal from havanatimes on Vimeo.

We have over sixty artists from countries such as Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Brazil, United States, Africa, Germany, Romania, Ukraine and Cuba, taking part.

Installation art, performance art, photography, video, internet art, public interventions, sculpture etc. are the most common art forms but we are saving some other art forms as a surprise.

The program is being organized by area, by the city’s key points which embrace well-known alternative projects such as Coco Solo Social, Santa Mia de la Talla or Riera Studio. Potential venues such as Guanabacoa, Alamar, Central Havana, Vedado, Cerro and Old Havana will be transformed into the #00Bienal’s meeting points.

For strategic reasons, promotional material that will continue to appear in this newspaper, such as digital newsletters (and this very article) will only mention a few names of foreign artists who are participating, as any act of sabotage on behalf of the Cuban authorities is imminent and artists could, for example, be refused entry into Cuba.

Here are some of them:

Yvelin Buenrostro (Mexico), Antonio Mas (Spain), Alicia Torres (Spain),  and from Cuba, Lazaro Saavedra, Jose Luis Marrero, Yuri Obregon, Jose Ernesto Alonso, Los Serones, Adonis Milan, Amaury Pacheco, Iris Ruiz, David de Omni, Yasser Castellanos, Sam 33, 2+2 =5, Happy Zombie, Yoanny Aldaya, Italo Expósito.

With regard to independent venues, at this time we can only name those mentioned above and others such as Espacio Aglutinador, INSTAR, El Oficio, Taller Yobatard, Estudio Yo soy el que soy, Amaury, Omnipoeta, Norias and the Museum of Politically Uneasy Art (MAPI).

We are currently developing a new campaign via https://www.gofundme.com/wg9b8d-00bienal-de-la-habana to cover the costs of holding some of the works scheduled to be shown; as well as to make up the costs of designing and printing the catalog, programs, the printed newsletter and promotional bits and pieces; as well as to cover the costs of promoting the event, creating a news broadcast and a documentary. 

The members of the #00Bienal team want to thank all of those people who have helped us in the previous funding campaign, including: Coco Fusco, Angel Delgado, Cecilia Bracmort, Carlos Martiel, Yali Romagoza, Ricardo Olbera, Ricardo Acosta, Marina Ibericanah, Lennier Lopez, Tania Bruguera, Erasmo Calzadilla, Brigitte Campeau and the rest of the people who made anonymous contributions.

With the money raised from that campaign, we managed to create part of the #00Bienal’s new visual identity and to make the website go live.

Once again, we need the help of art enthusiasts everywhere and ask them to support this initiative.

Yanelys Nuñez

Yanelys Nuñez Leyva: Writing is to expose oneself, undress before the inquisitive eyes of all. I like to write, not because I have developed a real fondness for nudity, but because I love composing words, thinking of stories, phrases that touch, images that provoke different feelings. Here I have a place to talk about art, life, me. In the end, feeling good about what you do is what matters; either with or without clothing.