USF Art Museum Hosts Online Film Screening, Conversation Supporting Cuban Artists' Freedom

TAMPA, FL — On Thursday, Nov. 18, at 6 p.m., the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum will present an online screening of Cuban artist Marco Castillo’s short film "Generación" (2019), which laments the loss of multiple generations of cultural voices through the actions of the Cuban government.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with Castillo and exiled Cuban artists and activists Katherine Bisquet and Hamlet Lavastida. The conversation addressing the current context for artists in Cuba will be moderated by USFCAM Curator-at-Large Christian Viveros-Fauné.

USFCAM has showcased Cuban art and artists for more than three decades.

"The criminalization of free speech in Cuba requires our attention to the plight of these artists and others who are working presently to open up society in Cuba," new media curator, Don Fuller, said. "According to organizations like Amnesty International, PEN America and Human Rights Watch, the Cuban government continues to commit systematic human rights abuses against artists, journalists, writers, musicians and others. Expressing views that run contrary to those held by the Cuban government has become punishable by law and a prison-worthy offense."

Like this article? Sign up for our newsletter and get it delivered every weekday. It's free!

USFCAM supports the Cuban artistic community, both inside and outside the island, in their call on the Cuban authorities to stop the systematic harassment of artists, writers, journalists and others; to release those persons who have been arbitrarily detained, arrested or disappeared; and to respect fundamental liberties, such as artistic freedom and freedom of expression, Fuller said.

On the eve of the 14th Havana Biennial—an event designed to celebrate the very creatives the Cuban government now consistently represses—USFCAM joins in supporting the campaign launched by the 27N Movement, the San Isidro Movement and the platform Archipiélago in saying "yes" to freedom of expression in Cuba and “no to the 14th Havana Biennial.”

"Freedom of speech and freedom of artistic expression are among the highest human values," Fuller said. "Healthy societies cherish critical artistic voices and do not deprive them of their freedom."

Marco Castillo, born in Camaguey, Cuba in 1971, lives and works in Mérida, México.

A founder of the art collective Los Carpinteros, Castillo’s work is permeated by an interest in the history of Cuba and the country’s post-revolutionary, social and cultural changes. His works often focus on Cuba’s modernization in the 1960s and 70s, making ample reference to influential Cuban artists, architects and designers—key figures he calls a “forgotten generation.”

From a political standpoint, Castillo looks to follow the historic trail of these artists, while positioning himself as both an advocate and herald for Cuban artistic heritage. His work is represented in important public and private collections, among them Tate Modern, London; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Guggenheim Museum, New York; National Museum of Fine Arts, Havana; Reina Sofia Museum, Madrid; Thyssen – Bornemisza Contemporary Art, Vienna; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Daros Foundation, Zürich; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles.

Katherine Bisquet, born in Ciudad Nuclear, Cuba, in 1992, is a poet and activist who has published two books of poetry, "Algo aquí se descompone (Colección Sur Editores, Havana, 2014)" and "Nuclear City mon amour (Ediciones Sinsentido, Havana, 2020)."

She organized Havana’s #00Bienal in 2018, and participated in the San Isidro Movement’s hunger strike of November 2020. In 2021, she received the Hannah Arendt International Institute of Artivism’s Antonia Eiriz Scholarship, awarded to independent artists and intellectuals, for her book project "Los Mojados."

Bisquet has published in magazines and newspapers around the world, among them: Vice en español, El Estornudo, Hyperallergic and Hypermedia. She is also the co-creator of Rialta Magazine's column "Cuban Cinema During Quarantine," an initiative designed to rescue, research and promote Cuban cinema.

Hamlet Lavastida, born in Havana, Cuba in 1993, is a political activist by way of his art. The provocative, boundary-pushing artist thrives on highlighting the distinctly Cuban spirit of cultural resistance, often by reconstructing elements of Cuban political and military propaganda.

His work has been exhibited widely at, among other venues, the Center of Contemporary Art Łaźnia, Gdańsk, Poland; The 8th Floor, New York; Gallery Gentil Carioca, Rio do Janeiro, Brazil; Centro Wifredo Lam, Havana, Cuba; and Pontevedra Museum, Galicia, Spain.

Lavastida was arrested by Cuban authorities on June 26, days after returning from a residency at Künstlerhaus Bethanien in Berlin. He was held for three months at Villa Marista prison, a jail known to hold political prisoners, until Sept. 25, when he and Katherine Bisquet were escorted by 20 agents to José Martí Airport and flown out of Havana to Warsaw, Poland, without a chance to bid their families farewell.

Christian Viveros-Fauné, born in Santiago, Chile in 1965, is the curator-at-large at the University of South Florida Contemporary Art Museum. He was awarded the University of South Florida’s Kennedy Family Visiting Fellowship in 2018, a Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Grant in 2009 and named Critic in Residence at the Bronx Museum in 2011.

He co-founded The Brooklyn Rail in 1999, wrote art criticism for the Village Voice from 2008 to 2016, was the art and culture critic for artnet news from 2016 to 2018, and has additionally served as chief critic for Artland and Sotheby’s.

He has lectured widely at institutions such as Yale University, Pratt University and Holland’s Gerrit Rietveld Academie.

He is also the author of several books. His most recent, "Social Forms: A Short History of Political Art," was published by David Zwirner Books in 2018. He was recently appointed artistic director for Converge 45's (Portland, Oregon) for the 2022-23 season.

Click here to register for the online film via Zoom.

The film will also be simulcast through Facebook Live.

It will also be available for viewing online through 10 p.m. Nov. 18.