THIS WEEK’S MUSE
TANIA BRUGUERA
“I do not see myself as a person with an ego, but rather persevering and with a clear vision of the transforming power of art.”
Tania Bruguera is a Cuban artist who splits her time between Havana—the city of her birth, in 1968—and New York. Inspired and driven by her outspoken stance on social and political injustice, her output often pivots around issues of power and control.
As a result, Bruguera has been arrested and jailed several times. She considers herself a revolutionary and over the years has become a thorn in the side of the Cuban authorities. She has been detained and interrogated on numerous occasions. Whenever she leaves Cuba, the authorities tell her not to come back.
Early work focused on her own body, as a platform for social commentary. Often, this was achieved by subjecting herself to physical pain, discomfort, or distress.
For El peso de la Culpa (The Burden of Guilt), Bruguera ate soil in front of a Cuban flag. According to legend, indigenous Cubans once consumed large amounts of soil to protest against the Spanish rule in the 16th century.
Bruguera updated this act of defiance as a way of highlighting the fight for Cuban’s freedom was still relevant.
“Eating dirt, which is sacred and a symbol of permanence, is like swallowing one’s own traditions, one’s own heritage, it’s like erasing oneself…What I did was take this historical anecdote and update it to the present.”
In time, she expanded the definition of performance art away from herself, towards a more participatory approach.
Her audiences—sometimes unknowingly and often surprisingly—could become her collaborators; part of the art, part of the commentary, and part of the message she was trying to share.
In her work Tatlin’s Whisper #5, visitors to the Tate Modern gallery in London were confronted with mounted police, who put them through crowd-control exercises.
Bruguera’s work can be dark, but there is also a chink of light. “Sometimes I deal with negative energies. That does not mean the work is pessimistic, but that it deals with things people would rather not touch.”
At the heart of Bruguera art practice is this collaborative impulse, advancing the notion of arte útil – “useful art” or, more specifically contextualized, “art as a beneficial tool.” She proposes solutions to social and political problems through the creation and implementation of art.
And around this philosophy she has developed long-term projects that include a community center and a political party for immigrants, and a school for behavior art.
“Art is an innovation to questioning; it is the social place of doubt, of wanting to understand and wanting to change reality.
HAPPENING
Saturday, November 19. 5–7pm
BEAUJOLAIS NOUVEAU C’EST ARRIVE!! DINNER
With Chef Joe Cizynski
Dinner to celebrate the first wine of the season.
$65 – Member, $75 – Non-Member
DETAILS & TICKETS