Tania Bruguera

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Tania Bruguera 2009

Tania Bruguera Fernández (born July 18, 1968 in Havana , Cuba ) is a Cuban artist whose installations and performances have received great international attention.

Youth and education

Bruguera grew up in Havana as the daughter of a Cuban diplomat and an English translator. There she first attended the art school in the district of 20 de Octubre (1980-83) and then the National Academy of Fine Arts San Alejandro (1983-87). She completed her subsequent art studies at the Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in 1992, specializing in painting.

After completing her studies, she taught painting at the ISA until 1996 and, from 1992 to 1993, worked in parallel on an art project with children with behavioral problems.

Since 1997 she has spent a large part of her life outside of Cuba - initially in Chicago, where she completed a master's degree in performance at the Art School in 2001 and later taught from 2003 to 2010. She currently lives in New York .

Main focus of her artistic work

Even in its early phase in Cuba, Bruguera's work always had a political dimension. She tries to combine art with the most active possible engagement of her recipients with social problems that she draws attention to. She coined the terms “arte útil” (useful art) and “arte de conducta” (behavioral art) for her art forms. As part of her performance El Susurro de Tatlin # 6 at the Havana Biennale in 2009, she gave visitors the opportunity for one minute each to express their opinion on any topic at a lectern in a public space, which later led to negative reactions from the security authorities individual participants in the campaign. As part of her long-term initiative Immigrant Movement International , she started the project The Francis Effect at the Guggenheim Museum in 2014 , in which she collected supporter signatures in order to get Pope Francis to grant Vatican citizenship to all immigrants worldwide who are disadvantaged due to their residence status.

Shortly after the announcement of the planned resumption of diplomatic relations between Cuba and the USA in December 2014, Bruguera wrote an open letter to her President Raúl Castro , in which she asked him to define the political future vision for the country while at the same time ensuring social equality and freedom of expression demanded. In the “# YoTambiénExijo” (“I also demand”) campaign, which was spread on the Internet via social networks, she called on all Cubans to celebrate the “beginning of civil liberties” with her on the streets of the country on December 30, 2014.

reception

In 1995 she had her first exhibition outside of Cuba in London with Fernando Rodríguez. Since then, Bruguera's works have been presented at some of the most important international art festivals, including Documenta11 in Kassel, the Biennales in Venice , Gwangju and Havana. The most important museums that have shown their works include the Tate Modern , the Whitechapel Art Gallery , the Center Pompidou , the MoMA PS1 , the New Museum of Contemporary Art , the ZKM Karlsruhe , the Kunst-Werke Berlin , the Kunsthalle Wien and the IVAM Valencia .

In 2010 the Neuberger Museum of Art in Purchase (New York) presented the first retrospective dedicated to Bruguera's work under the title On the Political Imaginary .

Works (selection)

  • El peso de la culpa (The Burden of Guilt), 1997–1999
  • Untitled (Kassel), Documenta 11 contribution from June 8th – 8th. September 2002
  • El susurro de Tatlin # 6 (Tatlins Whisper # 6), Havana 2009
  • Immigrant Movement International (2010-2015)
  • The Francis Effect, 2014

literature

  • Gerald Matt and others (eds.): Tania Bruguera: Portraits. Kunsthalle Wien / Kunsthalle zu Kiel, 2006, ISBN 3-86560-084-0
  • Okwui Enwezor (Ed.): Documenta 11 Platform 5: Exhibition . Ostfildern, 2002

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sam Dolnick: An Artist's Performance: A Year as a Poor Immigrant, in: New York Times of May 18, 2011, accessed on December 22, 2014 (English)
  2. ↑ a b c Tania Bruguera in the official Cuban online encyclopedia EcuRed , accessed on December 22, 2014 (Spanish)
  3. ↑ La exiliada que convoca a los cubanos a opinar abiertamente en la Plaza de la Revolución , BBC Mundo , December 30, 2014
  4. ↑ a b Short biography ( memento from December 23, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the International Summer Academy for Fine Arts Salzburg, accessed on December 23, 2014
  5. ↑ Thomas Schmid: Blogs in Kuba: Cuba libre im Netz, in: FR-online from November 12, 2009, accessed on December 23, 2014
  6. ↑ The Francis Effect by Tania Bruguera (+ video), project description on the Guggenheim Foundation website, accessed on December 23, 2014 (English)
  7. ↑ Yo También Exijo, campaign profile page on Facebook, accessed December 23, 2014 (Spanish)
  8. ↑ Carta abierta, on their personal website (Spanish, English translation here )
  9. ^ Tania Bruguera: On the Political Imaginary, information about the exhibition on the museum's website, accessed on December 23, 2014 (English)
  10. ↑ 2013 Meadows Prize winners: Nadia Sirota and Tania Bruguera, report in: art & education , accessed on December 23, 2014 (English)
personal data
SURNAME Bruguera, Tania
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bruguera Fernández, Tania (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Cuban artist
DATE OF BIRTH July 18, 1968
PLACE OF BIRTH Havana , Cuba