Artist Felipe Dulzaides’ installation explores the history of the unfinished National Art Schools in Havana, which were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in 1961 and designed by Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti, and Roberto Gottardi. Together, the schools were conceived as an art center that would symbolize and give form to the socialist ideals ushered in by the Cuban Revolution, but construction was abruptly halted in 1965, leaving many buildings incomplete and relegating them to obscurity.
The exhibition is ending this week, and if you didn’t get a chance to see it, you are missing one of the most fascinating and compelling stories of the year so far. Although grounded in architectural space, the exhibition maps out a history and brings the still living architects into the conversation to talk about what happened with this now failed project.
Utopía Posible is a body of work that addresses the architecture and the completion process of Cuban National Art Schools (Instituto Superior de Arte or ISA). Even though three of the five buildings remain unfinished, the schools are acknowledged as the most outstanding architectural achievement of the Cuban Revolution.
The exhibition includes a set of pieces focusing on architecture and related to the process of completion of the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana. Although three of the buildings were never finished, the resort is considered one of the major architectural achievements of the Cuban revolution.
Miami artist, Consuenlo Castaneda, provided the video below (although shaky) with views of the exhibition and the artist speaking (Spanish).
Garatti and Gottardi didn’t just try to reflect the revolution in their forward-looking designs; they also sought to respect the landscape and, most importantly, meet the students’ needs. “Architecture is judged on its practical function, but it must appeal to the emotions,” Gottardi told Dulzaides during their talk at the Graham Foundation in 2010.
Felipe Dulzaides (Cuba, 1965) is a visual artist whose work spans photography, installation, performance, video, and public art. Dulzaides’ work has been exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien (Berlin), Redcat (Los Angeles), and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (San Francisco), among other venues. He is the recipient of prestigious awards including, the Cintas Fellowship 2001, the Creative Work Fund 2004 – 2005 and the 2010 Rome Prize. Dulzaides studied drama at the Instituto Superior de Arte and holds a Master of Fine Arts in New Genres from San Francisco Art Institute.
Utopía Posible was selected by Okwui Enwezor for the 7th Gwangju Biennale (2008) and featured in the 10th Havana Biennial (2009). The Graham Foundation presentation is the first in the United States, and features new work.
Miami Dade College Art Gallery System
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