The working premises of the tenth edition of the Havana Biennial held in 2009 question the analysis of the new globalization and global contacts era, betting on an inclusive approach from the study of the local artistic productions, though never forgetting its deep interconnections. Semi-isolated practices or models point out alternative interaction ways towards the global universe.
This edition, directed by the curators of the del Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wilfredo Lam, will present more than two hundred artists from nearly thirty countries, among which artists from Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Asia and the Middle East prevail.
Nine Spanish artists participate in different exhibitions (Lluis Barba, Rafael Blasco Ciscar, Pedro Déniz, María Gimeno, Paco Guillén, Pipo Hernández, Rafael Hierro, Cristina Lucas and Ángel Marcos); the curator Manuel García will present his collective project “Tinieblas, poéticas de la violencia” (“Darkness, Violence Poetics”).
In every edition an essential feature of the proposal has been the Theoretical Forum. This year, Santiago Olmo, José Luis Brea, Francisco Jarauta and Manuel Vilar will take part in it. In addition, on this occasion it is addressed as a reflection on the history of the Biennial itself, its genesis, programme and development; as a metaphor, tribute and questioning of a project which is already twenty five years old.
The Forum, structured as a working process, has a previous period of exchange of ideas by means of on-line resources and publications. It raises general topics (globalization’s ideology, the art system within the global era, the new challenges in art critique, the extra-artistic practices or the educational role of museums) and specific aspects of the different geographies in order to analyse the special situation of the art sector in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Eastern Europe.