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ARTE DE CONDUCTA
Cátedra Arte de Conducta, is the first performance and time based
art studies program in Cuba. This project is being hosted by the Instituto
Superior de Arte, internationally recognized as Cuba's finest art school
and the only university-level art educational center in the island. The
project made its debut during Fall 2002.
Cátedra Arte de Conducta has three main goals:
1- the study program.
2- the use of this space to bring renown national and international artists
to present their artwork and share their experience with the students.
3- the creation of a specialized library / archive.
1 - THE STUDY PROGRAM
The first and most important goal of the C·tedra Arte de Conducta
is its study program. The C·tedra, or department, wants to create
a safe, warm, stimulating work space in which students develop their previous
skills as well as experiment with new ways of expressing themselves in
time based / performance forms.
We will observe performative aspects of behavior and environment. We will
also explore how behavior endures as well as how it can be transmitted,
the limits of media, the paradoxes of cultural identity -- cultural representations,
representational conventions and memory, historical conditions and ideology.
We will focus on different elements of structure involving the making
of this kind of art and employ multiple models of discourse.
The structure of the program is through courses, advisors, lectures, workshop,
school exchange, public presentations and thesis:
_ The courses are the regular non-electives classes.
_ The advisors are artists, directly affiliated with the program or not
(but with previous agreement from the program), being chosen by the student
to be their personal advisors for a semester on a specific project. A
minimum of 6 face to face meetings between the advisor and the student
plus a public presentation at the end has to be done.
_ The lectures are a requirement for each of the invited artist, there
are open to the general public. They would be as much as possible recorded
and being accessible through the library / archive.
_ The workshops are the electives classes and where the invited artists
will teach. They can be from one to eight weeks long.
_ The school exchange is a special event held every January, in which
we invite an artist, who is also a professor, to come with his / her class
for a three weeks intensive course. The result is a group show featuring
student work from both schools.
_ Each student as well as selected invited artists would be part of the
public presentation series. This is an important part of the program since
it is the moment when the student experiences this kind of art in its
highest level of intensity. It is also important since the selected invited
artists would share there art with the Cuban audience, which generally
would not have seen this work in person before. Also, the students can
be part of the organization and production of the artistís piece,
which would be a privileged way of learning.
.
_ The thesis is the last and final exercise of the program. It is held
as a public presentation. The program has a University level degree and
a minimum of two years of study. To complete the degree the student would
have had to successfully accomplish a minimum of twelve reglamentary courses,
six each year four workshops two advisors one school exchange. a thesis
presentation.
The year is divided in two fifteen weeks semesters and one intensive three
weeks course. The school starts every first Monday of September and runs
the first semester until the second Friday of December. The intensive
course starts every January 6 until the 26. The second semester starts
the first Monday of February until the second Friday of May.
2ñ INVITED ARTISTS / PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS
The decision on the selection of the invited artists would be done taking
in mind the value of the artistic discourse of the artist in relationship
with the broader discourse of the program. They can be national international
artists; in both cases with a respected body of work as well as for the
innovative way in which they have addressed specific aspects of art, life
and society.
The invited artists could be part of the presentations and / or the workshops.
The access to international art scene and artwork in Cuba is mostly done
through art magazines and reproductions and since in performance and time-based
art the actual experience is such an important element of the consumption
and understanding of the work, we want to provide a space for showing
in person some of the work of the more important contemporary artists
working in this media, a bridge of information / experiences of artworks
and artistic discourses.
The students would always be part of the public presentations either through
the presentation of their own work or assisting and / or collaborating
with the invited artist
Since the best way to learn art is through the understanding of the process
of creation and the strategies of and in it, we want for some of the invited
artists to share their experiences with our students through a workshop.
3 - THE LIBRARY / ARCHIVE
As part of our larger project, we are also opening a specialized library
/ archive where the invited artists and curators donate any kind of documentation
(books, catalogues, slides, videos, CR-ROOM, DVD, magazines, etc.) that
they may feel will be beneficial to our students. We will do our best
to document the lectures and courses and keep that documentation available
through this database as well.
If in the future we have founds, we would publish all the lectures as
a book for academic purposes.
If the invited artist agrees, an interview about their body of work and
the contemporary aspects of performance can be arranged with an art magazine
in Havana. These articles would be archived and available at our library.