- HAVANA BIENNIAL DOCUMENTARY
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.
This trip is intended as the first of a series of annual trips to international art biennials that will form a crucial component of the curriculum in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Chicago.
Funding was graciously provided by the UChicago Arts Council, FOTA, the Open Practice Committee, and the Claire Kantor Foundation.
Adrian Anagnost Art His PhD
Amy Babinec MFA 09
Andre Callot MFA 10
Michelle Maydanchik Art His PhD
Danielle Paz MFA 09
Vanessa Ruiz MFA 09
Marilyn Volkman MFA 09
Tania Bruguera Sponsoring Faculty, DOVA
Judy Hoffman Sponsoring Faculty, DOVA
