The Performance Art of Global Cuba

doi:10.1017/9781009168359.042

41 - The Performance Art of Global Cuba

from Part V - Cuba and Its Diasporas into the New Millennium

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 August 2024

Bretton White

Edited by

Vicky Unruh and

Jacqueline Loss

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Vicky Unruh: Affiliation:
University of Kansas
Jacqueline Loss: Affiliation:
University of Connecticut

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Summary

This chapter addresses Cuban performance art of the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In spite of the apparent ephemerality of performance, the body of work explored in this chapter is among the Cuban art most well known worldwide, sometimes for such unfortunate reasons as a controversial death (Ana Mendieta), detainment/house arrest (Tania Bruguera), or imprisonment (Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara). The chapter approaches performance art through four overlapping themes – play, betweenness, memory, and voice – to explore the ways in which individuals use an art form that unites physical body and message to intervene in varied sociopolitical and cultural fields. Other artists whose work the chapter considers include, among others, Alina Troyano (aka Carmelita Tropicana), Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Yali Romagoza, Coco Fusco, Alicia Rodríguez Alvisa, Leandro Soto, and Carlos Martiel, and the collectives ARTECALLE, Los Carpinteros, and Desde Una Pragmática Pedagógica (DUPP), among others.

Keywords

Cuban performance art Ana Mendieta (1948–1985)Tania Bruguera (1968–)Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara (1987–)Alina Troyano (1957–)Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957–1996)Yali Romagoza (1984–)Coco Fusco (1960–)Alicia Rodríguez Alvisa (1995–)Carlos Martiel (1989–)

Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge History of Cuban Literature , pp. 640 - 655

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009168359.042 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2024

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References

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