25 Oct 18 | Awards, Fellowship, Fellowship 2018, News and features
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”103471″ img_size=”full” add_caption=”yes”][vc_column_text]Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, a Cuban artist, and co-founder of award-winning Museum of Dissidence will perform in Trafalgar Square on 26 October 2018.
Along with art curator Yanelys Nuñez Leyva, they were hosted in Metal Southend for two weeks in October as part of a collaboration with Index. During their stay, they were presented their Freedom of Expression Award in the Arts category by Index which they could not formally accept in April due to visa refusal by the United Kingdom.
Otero Alcántara will be reproducing an artistic action that he exports to different cities, most recently performed in Madrid. His character, Miss Bienal, was created in 2016 and was present at all of the 2016 Havana Biennial exhibition*. The character intends to symbolise the image of the sensual mulatto woman that every foreigner typifies in clichés for tourist and artistic consumption. Dressed as a dancer from the famous Tropicana Cabaret and distributing business card to as many people as possible, where he had his personal contact details.
Miss Bienal is now visiting London and making the character his personal loudspeaker for the urgent need for artistic free expression in Cuba. Censorship on the island is becoming worse as there is a new decree 349 which will criminalise all cultural production that does not respond to the ideology of the state. Miss Bienal will have the number 349 on her costume and will be informing spectators about the limited freedom of expression in Cuba.
*This performance was part of the Hors-Pistes event: The Spring of Love, curated by Catherine Sicot (Elegoa Cultural Produtions) and Geraldine Gomez (Center Pompidou, Program Hors-Pistes).[/vc_column_text][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1540481508887-a7b0f0ee-6632-9″ taxonomies=”23772″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
19 Oct 18 | Americas, Cuba, News and features, Press Releases
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”103304″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]“I think this is a great victory to get us visas and be in a space of happiness,” said Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcàntara arriving at a ceremony to collect his Index on Censorship arts award, after a 7-month fight to get a UK visa.
“Artists are like all people; they have a very important function. Like how the song of an artist can reach millions of people and make them cry, a picture from a visual artist can transform the feeling of what is happening in a country. This is something an artist has to take responsibility for.”
Alcàntara and Yanelys Nuñez Levya, the winners of this year’s Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards for Arts, finally received their award on October 18th at Metal arts centre in Chalkwell Hall, Southend.
Alcàntara and Nuñez are the founders of The Museum of Dissidence, a public art project and website celebrating dissent in Cuba, and went through a lengthy battle to gain visas for entry into the UK. Previously, the activists were scheduled to receive their honours in April. Fellowships and Advocacy officer Perla Hinojosa, who played a pivotal role in the campaigning for the activists’ visas, called it a “triumph”.
Hinojosa said: “It’s a triumph for activism because you see that if you speak out, if you talk about the wrongs and make them right, it happens. I think this was a positive for everyone, even the UK embassy in Cuba. I am really glad they re-evaluated their decision because now people are able to see the work – and the activism – that these artists do, and the great meaning that they have for the future of Cuba.”
The Museum of Dissidence has faced opposition, criticism and even imprisonment for its art and activism in Cuba, therefore Nuñez said it came as a surprise to find their work was acclaimed internationally.
In August Cuban authorities arrested Alcàntara and Nuñez for their roles in organising a concert against Decree 349, a law that is set to come into play on December 1st and will give the Cuban Ministry of Culture increased power to censor art display and exchange. The pair were beaten in detention.
Speaking about her initial reaction, she said: “We are very happy to be here and share with you our brilliant ideas and how we feel like artists being in Cuba. When we heard we had received the award at Index – we are so disconnected from the world, you know? We don’t have internet; we don’t have access to information. It was very complicated to understand that some people outside, abroad, know about us.”
Jodie Ginsberg, Index’s CEO, said: “Our art winners were not with us because the British government chose not to give them a visa. We are not ones to be easily defeated, and we are so grateful to be working with Colette, Syd and Metal, who gave us another opportunity to have an excuse to bring our winners to the UK.”[/vc_column_text][vc_media_grid grid_id=”vc_gid:1539960103319-b773dd8c-32fd-0″ include=”103307,103306,103305″][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1539960103323-ab4f2bbc-205b-10″ taxonomies=”23707″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
15 Oct 18 | Awards, Events, Fellowship, Fellowship 2018
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_single_image image=”103220″ img_size=”full”][vc_column_text]The Museum of Dissidence in Cuba (MDC) is an online website and public art project celebrating dissent in Cuba. It was set up in the summer of 2016 by acclaimed young artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and his partner, curator and art historian Yanelys Nuñez Leyva. Their stated aim is to reclaim the word “dissident” and to give it a positive connotation in Cuba.
This is a daring and unique project, created by representatives of a new, young generation of artists who are not afraid to challenge a repressive regime and promote freedom of expression. The repercussions have been fierce: Nuñez was sacked from her job at state sponsored magazine Revolution and Culture for founding the site. Otero was arrested in November 2017 for organising an unofficial #00Havana Biennal through the museum and threatened with prison for being a “counter-revolutionary”.
Yanelys and Luis Manuel are in residence with Metal in Southend-on-Sea for two weeks in October as part of a partnership with Index on Censorship. Having been 3 times refused an entry visa to the UK by the Home Office, this decision was finally overturned at the end of September. This enables the artists to be with us in the UK for a short time. During their stay they will be presented with their 2018 Freedom of Expression Award (in the arts category) that they were awarded by Index earlier in the year. They were unable to attend the awards ceremony in London in April.
They will also be focusing on finalising a documentary film of the #00Havana Biennal.
We hope you will join us to hear from these extraordinary artists and learn more about their work in Cuba.
For more information about Museum of Dissidence – click here.[/vc_column_text][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][vc_single_image image=”103221″ img_size=”full” onclick=”custom_link” link=”http://www.metalculture.com/”][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/3″][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
When: Wed 24 October 2018, 7.30pm – 9.30pm
Where: Chalkwell Hall, Chalkwell Avenue, Southend-on-Sea SS0 8NB
Tickets: Free. Booking required via Eventbrite
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09 Oct 18 | Americas, Campaigns -- Featured, Cuba, Press Releases
Dates available for interview: October 17-29
LONDON – Two award-winning artists twice denied visas by the UK government this year finally arrive in the UK next week to take up a two-week residency.
The Museum of Dissidence collective, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and Yanelys Nuñez Leyva, winners of this year’s Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression Awards for Arts will be in the UK from 17 to 29 October. They will take part in a two-week residency with Metal and accept their Index award in person. They were unable to attend the Index awards ceremony in April after the UK denied them a visa.
In May, the duo, along with other artists, organised Cuba’s first alternative art biennial. The independent biennial comprised over 170 independent artists, writers, musicians and theorists across nine different exhibitions in artists’ homes and studios around the country’s capital.
Since July, they have been active in a campaign against Decree 349, a new law in Cuba to be enacted on 1 December, which will give the Ministry of Culture increased power to censor, issue fines and confiscate materials for of which work they do not approve. On 21 July, Otero Alcantara was arrested during a peaceful protest, and, in early August, both were arrested ahead anti-censorship concert.
In September, a second application for a UK visa was rejected. However, the UK Embassy in Cuba later overturned their decision.
Both artists will be available for interview during their time here.
Contact:
Perla Hinojosa, Fellowships and Advocacy Officer
0207 963 7262
[email protected]
