Click on the picture to see the video.
This audiovisual documentation was made possible thanks to the LASA Audiovisual Team (Ladys Roque - direction, Marla Cobo – filming assistant, Michel Perez and Dayron Calvet – photography and edition)
The processes that shape the actions of contextual art are, by essence, temporary. As such, they give life to ephemeral landscapes, not only within the territory where they take place, but also mentally, in the local inhabitants' memory. Based on that observation, the project- If you were on an Island…Laboratorio Artístico de San Agustín - LASA: Ten Years of Contextual Art in Cuba - had the idea to focus on these ephemeral landscapes, through a trans-media documentation, in order to shed light on the context being both a
performance in itself and a framework. Leading to a conclusion: the context is an actual living being.
For two years, Aurélie Sampeur directed this production, joining forces with art critics, curators, historians, designers, etc. - both national and international - among which Paz Ponce worked since 2018 as editor, developing the conceptual framework of If you were on an island…, an limited artist edition including:
- Voices in Transition. Creating Polyphonic Spaces, a documentary about the LASA, directed by Dayron Valdés Calvet, with the original soundtrack by Waldo Ramírez Rupo (ISBN 978-2-9567782-4-0);
- The Third Shore. Collective Biography, by Paz Ponce
(foreword by Michelangelo Pistoletto) (ISBN 978-2-9567782-0-2);
- The Energy of the Context: Multiple Reflections from
the Laboratorio Artístico de San Agustín, edited by Paz Ponce, foreword by scientific Jorge Berlanga (CIGB), combined with interviews and essays by
Jorge Fernández, Magaly Espinoza, Dannys Montes de Oca, Nelson Herrera, Beatriz Pérez, Cora Hegewald, Stefania Crobe and Paloma ChecaGismero (ISBN 978-2-9567782-1-9);
- Catalogue of artistic actions in San Agustín 2008- 2018, edited by Paz Ponce and Aurélie Sampeur (ISBN 978-2-9567782-2-6).
www.clubreal.de/installation/lasa10carnival/
This project is the continuation of a long standing cooperation between LASA and Club Real (See El Huevo de San Agustin 2009 and Quien Es 2010 )LASA 10 Carnaval is the occupation of the center through the periphery, contextual art celebrating its 10th year anniversary at the Centro Wifredo Lam behind the main cathedral of Havanna, but with the context of the suburb where this art was born and thrives: San Agustin, La Lisa, Havanna. The houses grow feet and the street food seller comes along for this performance installation, which is also the presentation of the publication: "If you were on an island...". Meet the community of San Agustin on the banco communitario and see if you can convince them that you are worth a part of their book, or be extra brave and enter the realm of the dreamer/creator where the realities meet.
The next day the community has returned home and the contextual art center LASA celebrates with the barrio and a concert by the famous singer Raul Paz. Let the houses dance!
Fri, 10th May 2019: 10am and 5pm Performance Installation
Patio de CENTRO DE ARTE CONTEMPORÁNEO WIFREDO LAM, San Ignacio # 22 esq. a Empedrado. Plaza de La Catedral. La Habana Vieja Tel: 7861 2096
Sat, 11th May 2019: 9pm - open end Community Concert and Party
San Agustin, La Lisa, La Habana - the exact location will be announced closer to the time, for further details please call: +53 52821600 or +53 5379 8364
With the kind support of IFA - Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen
As part of the 13th Bienal de la Habana
