Every two years the remarkable city of Havana is transformed into a sprawling art hub for one month as both Cuban and international artists take over galleries, cultural institutions and public spaces. Showcasing the work of 200 artists from 43 countries it also marks the events 25th Anniversary as well as the 50th anniversary of the Cultural Revolution.
See Sarah’s highlights of the Havana Biennial
The Biennial is curated by the Wilfredo Lam Contemporary Art Centre and is partnered by Havana Cultura. A unique cultural initiative from Havana Club rum, Havana Cultura was created to give Havana’s artists a global voice, (as well as to provide The Biennial with mouth watering mojitos). It will bring the spirit and creativity of the city’s biannual art exhibition to the world, with exclusive news and broadcasts from the event on www.havana-cultura.com.
From JEFF’s ‘Herd of Elephants’ to the Frieze Cartier award winner Wilfredo Preito’s ‘Star in the Sky of Havana’ the Havana Biennial has shown ambition by attempting to examine the effect of globalisation on our cultures, under the concept of ‘Integration and Resistance in the Global Era’.
Havana, a city that in the last century hosted Winston Churchill and Al Capone, now looks forward in the Obama era to more boundaries being broken down, a theme of the Art Biennial that should put it on everyone’s go to list.