This project will explore issues relating to art pedagogy and professionalization at the intersection between local contexts and the international art world.

Through attendance at the Havana Biennial, a series of interviews and studio visits with emerging artists in Havana, and documentation of Cátedra Arte de Conducta’s participation in the Biennial, we will use a discussion-based approach to explore what it means to be an emerging artist trained in a local context but entering international art structures. In an increasingly internationalized and professionalized art world, both American and Cuban students experience the difficulties of entering the global art field as young practitioners. While participation in international biennials is an increasingly important aspect of artistic and academic practice, art students and art historians trained outside of the major cultural art capitals are forced to embark on less direct paths into their professional fields. Despite divergent socio-political histories, both Chicago and Havana lack both geographical and infrastructural proximity to the institutional centers regulating art practice today. Working as an artist or art historian today necessitates an awareness of the constant dialogue surrounding art and art historical practice, which is hindered by a lack of proximity to the centers of, for example, New York, Los Angeles, Berlin, Venice, Sao Paolo, or London.

During this formative stage in the intellectual and professional careers of the students participating, an engagement with these issues will have a lasting effect in our respective fields. Because participation in biennials is a crucial demonstration of one’s position in the art field, an introduction into this area of the art world under the guidance of seasoned professionals is invaluable for advanced students. The Havana Biennial serves as a particularly advantageous venue for this opportunity due to the intersection between its unique history and the interests of the students participating in this project. Beginning in 1984 with a focus on Latin American and Caribbean artists, the Biennial expanded its range two years later to include artists from Africa and Asia, consequently becoming the most important site of contact between Third World artists. Today, the Biennial has no geographical restrictions on inclusion, reflecting the increasing internationalism of the art world in both political and cultural terms. The Art History PhD students participating in the project have interests in non-Western contemporary art and the exchange between local contexts and international institutions. Using the research gathered from this fieldwork, the art historians will contextualize these issues through an article submitted to Chicago-based journals and magazines such as Area, Proximity, Prompt, and Lumpen.

Schedule
We plan to arrive in Cuba on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 and return to Chicago March 31, 2009. Each day we will film footage at the Biennial in teams, documenting the changing installation of the Cátedra Arte de Conducta in Havana. Upon our return in April, we will complete post-production, presenting a preliminary version of our project at the CAW workshop soon thereafter. In May, we will screen the film at the University of Chicago Festival of the Arts. Two other screenings will take place in June, both at CWAC (on-campus) and the Hyde Park Art Center (off-campus).

Presentation and Evaluation
Upon returning to Chicago, we will present the film at the Art History Department’s Contemporary Art Workshop before screening the film in May of 2009 at FOTA. In June of the same year, we will offer a critical panel discussion at the Hyde Park Art Center in collaboration with the Open Practice Committee featuring the Cuban artists via Skype. All events will be free and open to the public. We anticipate an audience of faculty and students across the Arts and the Humanities at the University of Chicago, as well as unaffiliated members of the local community. These events will be supplemented by a website featuring archival images, video excerpts, and text related both to the trip and to the subsequent collaborations. We anticipate that this will make our work widely available to interested groups and departments in the campus community. Transcribed discussions will be made available online, along with a critical essays reflecting on the project. We will follow up these events with an evaluation of the proceedings based on feedback from the participants and audience, which will serve as a model for the planning of future biennial trips.

Life of the Arts in Chicago
This trip is intended as the first of a series of annual trips to international art biennials as a crucial part of the DOVA curriculum. From 1991 to 1999, the University of Chicago and the University of Havana enjoyed an exchange program that featured funding for a number of faculty and graduate students to travel and build a network of scholars. This opportunity has been lost, as the current DOVA curriculum includes trips only to museums and galleries in New York City. Both Art and Art History students hope to expand opportunities for travel in international contexts, not only improving relations between institutions, but also between departments in our own school. The Havana Biennial serves as a particularly appropriate venue to begin this series because of its position at a transitional socio-political moment.

Participation in international biennials will enhance the perception of both the University of Chicago and the individual departments of Visual Art and Art History. Our interactions at the Biennial as well as the work we produce will be of interest in and beyond the campus community, because access to information about life in Cuba is so limited. A final report will be provided to the Arts Council.

Funding was graciously provided by the UChicago Arts Council, FOTA, the Open Practice Committee, and the Claire Kantor Foundation.

This blog will be updated daily while we are in Cuba, March 24th through March 30th. We welcome you share this experience with us.

Adrian Anagnost Art His PhD
Amy Babinec MFA 09
Andre Callot MFA 08
Michelle Maydanchik Art His PhD
Danielle Paz MFA 09
Vanessa Ruiz MFA 09
Marilyn Volkman MFA 09
Tania Bruguera Sponsoring Faculty, DOVA
Jufy Hoffman Sponsoring Faculty, DOVA