The Cuban visual artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara issued a unique call from the Guanajay prison, where he is incarcerated.
From his cell, the founder of the San Isidro Movement (MSI) invited attendees of the 2024 Havana Biennial to participate in an artistic intervention called "Fe de vida," a kind of performance in which he proposes to open his prison space as a meeting place.
This initiative, shared on social media and through a thread on X, aims to allow visitors to engage in dialogue with the artist and learn about the work he has created while in prison, under the strict restrictions of the Cuban regime.
In a phone call, Otero Alcántara stated that this intervention aims for "artists, curators, theorists, collectors, and art lovers in general" to experience his proposal in such a unique environment as a Cuban prison.
"The Biennial was born as an opportunity for the marginalized and the displaced, and since I am not allowed to attend the event, why not bring a fragment of the Biennial to the artist?" he explained in a message shared by the independent outlet Diario de Cuba.
Those interested in participating in the unusual and groundbreaking meeting must coordinate with the Ministry of the Interior of Cuba (MININT) using the phone numbers provided by Otero Alcántara himself.
The artist's invitation takes place against a backdrop of censorship and repression that characterizes the Havana Biennial, called by the Cuban Ministry of Culture. This edition of the Biennial will be held from November 15, 2024, to February 28, 2025, and has sparked strong criticism from the independent artistic community.
In a statement published in the magazine Letras Libres, artists and curators such as Coco Fusco, Hamlet Lavastida, and Solveig Font condemned the event as a "simulation of creative autonomy," highlighting the cynicism of the Cuban government in attempting to divert international attention from internal repression.
Coco Fusco emphasized that the "Fe de vida" initiative originated with Otero himself, who chose to participate in the Biennial as a protest against the "hypocrisy of the Government" in presenting a cultural event amid repression.
Throughout his imprisonment, Otero Alcántara has been prohibited from distributing drawings and other artistic works created in prison, a restriction that the artist has navigated through this creative intervention. According to Fusco, this proposal reflects the artist's resistance against the attempt to silence him.
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara was arrested in July 2021 while attempting to join the protests on July 11th. Since then, he has been sentenced to five years in prison on charges of "public disorder" and "contempt," a ruling that human rights activists, including Amnesty International, consider arbitrary.
His case represents one of the most visible examples of the repression faced by artists and dissidents in Cuba, where freedom of expression remains restricted.
Otero's final message for those interested in "Fe de vida" is a call to learn about his work and to share his reality, one that he defines as "super connected" to art, despite the barriers imposed by the regime.
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