HAMLET LAVASTIDA
PROPHYLACTIC LIFE
Aug 20 | Oct 10, 2015
Hamlet
Lavastida’s sophisticated artistic proposal focuses on the field of
history, ideology and collective memory. The artist is interested in
the diagnosis and reconstruction of a particular iconographic memory
associated with the ideological notion of "prophylaxis"
wielded by the Cuban Revolution of 1959 as an indoctrination
tool aimed at the conversion of the individual in the long awaited
archetype of the “New Man”.
By
the term "prophylactic work" is known in Cuba the
ideological prevention, and educational guidance designed to ensure
the full integration of the individual into the realm of the
Socialist construction project.
Circumscribed
to the period 1960-1990, this body of work, a sort of
poststructuralist scrutiny, centers on the review of official
documents and images directly associated with the imagery of
prevention, orientation, and coercion.
The
logic behind representation in Cuba during this period is heir
to Constructivist
aestheticthat, taken over by the Soviet
Revolution as a major ideological weapon, has its epitome in the
propaganda poster. Tackled
from the Post-communist era, these cutting-edge anthropological works
dig into an obsolete yet fascinating aesthetic for many idealized
from nostalgia and others entirely strange.
Hamlet
Lavastida (La Habana, 1983) graduated from the Superior Institute of
Art (Havana, 2009). He has received the following residences A-I-R
Laboratory, Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej, Zamek Ujazdowski, Warsaw,
Poland (2012); Residencia
PERRO Aglutinador-Laboratorio,
Havana, Cuba (2008), and El
estado somos nosotros.
Tejadillo #214 Studio, Havana, Cuba (2006).
His
work has been exhibited at the Center
of Contemporary Art Łaźnia,
Gdańsk,
Poland; LinksHall,
Chicago, US; The
8th Floor,
New York, US; Centro
Wifredo Lam,
Havana, Cuba, and Pontevedra
Museum,
Galicia, Spain; Gallery
Gentil Carioca,
Rio do Janeiro, Brazil, and Nippon
International Performance Art Festiva',Tokyo, Kawagushi,
Moriya, Nagano, Japan; among others.
Currently,
his work is part of the exhibition Iconocracia.
Imagen del poder y poder de las imágenes en la fotografía cubana
contemporánea,
at ARTIUM, Centro-Museo Vasco de Arte Contemporáneo,
Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain
