IDENTIDADES 1 ENGLISH IDENTIDADES 5 ENGLISH | Page 92

All this can be seen as an already stable, unique, and culturally effective
response to the problems and issue that
have defined the national context over
the last ten years. Their presence is due
to the sense of possibilities and difference that were articulated even earlier.

the few people who may be interested in
art, but also a diverse public representative of the community. We always try to
maintain a constant, interactive conversation going between El Círculo and
other galleries closest to this network
we like to classify as underground, both
regarding our differences and our
shared perspectives. This is so we can
analyze issue in the current art scene in
Cuba. In the Vedado zone, we have
Sandra Ceballos’s Espacio Aglutinador,
and Otari Oliva and Jazmín Valdés’s
Cristo Salvador Galería. The idea is to
generate multiple perspectives within
the context of Cuban art, both inside
and outside Cuba.

These cultural dynamics are precisely a
contribution to a sense of alterity, considering they have to go through the
necessary, critical filters to achieve the
“contemplative condition” they require.
The fundamental role of artists in this
creative process involves them presenting projects that contribute to the arduous work of creating new conditions for
Cuban society, a task to which many
flock from their often exponential positions, which deserve acknowledgement
and respect. This is a sign that the nation and its social voice are recovering.
We must include ever more informative
notes about this.
What do you all propose with the El
Círculo gallery?
It is an independent cultural project.
Our idea is to create an alternative gallery in a domestic space to function as
an exhibit space for the visual arts via
horizontal collaboration among a collective group of artists. These very same
artists will function as curators, and
involve themselves and incorporate
themselves into the underground, cultural scene, and not the institutional
one. At the very least, they have to
communicate a original concept based
principally on difference, as a frequent
manifestation of artistic expression. It
needs to be able to connect to the most
common of citizens, to socialize the
artistic intention, and assemble not only

Lía and Luis. Photo: Claudio Fuentes
Our first order of business has to do
with our focus and the way in which to
produce and accept artistic discourse
within the current context. We want to
reflect upon and debate the inquiring
social, political, and folkloric literalities
of our immediate environment, and center our attention on issues involving the

92