Tania Bruguera was born in Havana, Cuba in 1968.
Conceptual artist and strong opponent of the Cuban regime, she creates installations, videos, and performances.
She studied at the 20 de Octubre Elementary School of Plastic Arts, at the San Alejandro School of Plastic Arts, at the Higher Institute of Art in Havana, and later at the Art Institute of Chicago.
In his works, he establishes a direct relationship with the audience, aiming to move them from the role of passive observers of the artwork to active questioners and participants. His pieces have a marked and recognized social and political character, transcending aesthetic and representational values to focus, in his own words, on the “ethical beauty when creating art of a social or political nature.”
He exhibited at Documenta (Germany), the Venice Biennales, Tate Modern (United Kingdom), Gallery PS1 (Moma, United States), The New Museum of Contemporary Art (United States), The Whitechapel Gallery (London), Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie (Germany), and Kunsthalle Wien (Austria).
His work has earned him the following awards and recognitions: the Guggenheim Fellowship in 1998 (United States), the Meadows Prize for 2013-2014 (Dallas, USA), and the Prince Claus Award in 2008 (Netherlands).
At the end of 2014, she traveled to Havana to perform "The Whisper of Tatlin #6,” which was intended to take place in the iconic Plaza de la Revolución in Havana, allowing Cubans to express their opinions about the future and reality of Cuba with a microphone in hand. As a consequence, she was arrested along with other Cuban artists who were set to participate. The performance did not take place, but the news of her imprisonment captured the attention of the international press and sparked the movement One Day for Cuba. Intellectuals and artists around the world sent a letter to President Raúl Castro calling for her release.
In December 2018, she was arrested twice and was prevented from leaving her home by State Security agents due to her active fight against Decree 349, which regulates the artistic sector in Cuba and serves as a tool for art censorship. Bruguera is a staunch activist against the Cuban regime and seizes every opportunity through her political work to denounce the repression and the economic and social conditions of hunger and poverty that the Cuban people endure.
He holds two honorary degrees, one awarded in 2016 by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and another in 2019 conferred by the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA), a private university of art and design located in Baltimore.
