Kerry Oliver-Smith

Twenty years after the fall of the Berlin wall, Project Europaconsiders the relationship of art and artists to democracy. What is the role of art in the public sphere? In what ways do artists mediate the vital and critical political issues of their time? What is the emancipator potential of art? In the exhibition, nineteen artists from the British Isles to Turkey challenge the collective imagination of Europe while confronting a paradox: Europe as the site of possibility and impossibility for creating an egalitarian society. Europe is a name, a continent, and an abstract idea. Europe was the center of Judeo-Christian tradition and, later, the beacon of the Enlightenment's universal values of equity, tolerance, and reason. Nevertheless, Europe has also given rise to xenophobia and racism, religious intolerance, and the hardening of immigration policies. This thought-provoking, visually dynamic exhibition includes poetry, photography, prints, paintings, video, installations, and wall drawings, and features an international roster of artists. In the debate between the separation of art from everyday life or the immersion of art into everyday life, these artists stake a claim at the intersection of both sides. Project Europa: Imagining the (Im)Possible, appeared at the Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art February 7-May 9, 2010. A preview of the exhibition appeared in Art Forum;reviews will appear in the June issues of Art in Americaand Camera Austriamagazines. The exhibition travels to the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University January 25-March 19, 2011.

This volume presents 59 examples of contemporary Cuban art drawn from the distinguished collection of Howard and Patty Farber (New York and Miami Beach). Created primarily during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, these evocative works represent the combination of utopian impulses and dystopian realities, the ruptures and new beginnings that have characterized Cuban art. Although the underlying issues are serious, many of the works are imbued with a sense of humor and irony, and all demonstrate a clear commitment to the Cuban homeland. Among the 40 Cuban-born artists represented in the exhibition are many internationally renowned figures, such as Jose Bedia, Antonio Fernandez (Tonel), Los Carpinteros, Tania Bruguera, Carlos Garaicoa, Alexis Leyva (Kcho), Luis Cruz Azaceta, and Elsa Mora. Approximately half of the artists currently reside in Cuba, while the other half reside outside Cuba in countries such as Spain, Mexico, and the United States. The artworks in the exhibition encompass a broad range of media, including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures, and mixed-media installations, and the accompanying bilingual text includes essays by Kerry Oliver-Smith, curator of contemporary art at the Harn Museum of Art and curator of the exhibition Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from The Farber Collection, and Abelardo Mena, curator of contemporary art at the National Museum in Havana, among others.

This volume presents 59 examples of contemporary Cuban art drawn from the distinguished collection of Howard and Patty Farber (New York and Miami Beach). Created primarily during the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, these evocative works represent the combination of utopian impulses and dystopian realities, the ruptures and new beginnings that have characterized Cuban art. Although the underlying issues are serious, many of the works are imbued with a sense of humor and irony, and all demonstrate a clear commitment to the Cuban homeland. Among the 40 Cuban-born artists represented in the exhibition are many internationally renowned figures, such as Jose Bedia, Antonio Fernandez (Tonel), Los Carpinteros, Tania Bruguera, Carlos Garaicoa, Alexis Leyva (Kcho), Luis Cruz Azaceta, and Elsa Mora. Approximately half of the artists currently reside in Cuba, while the other half reside outside Cuba in countries such as Spain, Mexico, and the United States. The artworks in the exhibition encompass a broad range of media, including paintings, drawings, prints, photographs, sculptures, and mixed-media installations, and the accompanying bilingual text includes essays by Kerry Oliver-Smith, curator of contemporary art at the Harn Museum of Art and curator of the exhibition Cuba Avant-Garde: Contemporary Cuban Art from The Farber Collection, and Abelardo Mena, curator of contemporary art at the National Museum in Havana, among others.