The 1990s and Beyond
THE 1990s and BEYOND
After the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union and thus the end of its subsidy of Cuba, the country entered a period of economic hardship that Fidel Castro called the Special Period in Time of Peace. Decentralization in the Ministry of Culture during the Special Period led to loosened institutional pressure, and artists began to enjoy more creative freedom. This development came too late for the 1980s generation, which was by now disbanded because by the 1990s most artists were living abroad without defecting, in what Cuenca coined “low-intensity exile” (Fuscó 1992, ). By the late 1990s, many of these artists were residing in Miami. In June 1998, Glexis Novoa curated a group exhibition at the Miami Dade College titled Cuban Performance Art of the 80s: A Chronology. The opening included re-performances of some of the 80s performances done in Cuba which can be viewed directly on the exibition page.
AFRO-CUBAN RITUALS AND PERFORMANCE
The staging of trance/possession techniques from Afro-Cuban religious rituals is key to understanding the development of Cuban performance art in the 1990s. Tomás González (1938–2008) developed Método de Actuación Transcendente, a method of embodying a character through trancelike techniques. Vivian Acosta trained with González and used acting in trance in Galiano 108's version of La virgen triste. (View video at the Cuban Theater Digital Archive.)
Manuel Mendive (b. 1944) also used elements of Yoruba and Bantu cultures to paint naked human bodies, which then become a stage on which the muscles dance with their own energy and the energy that emanates from the street spectators. (The interview below starts the Manuel Mendive path, which includes videos of the performances The Man Illustrating and When Closing Eyes .)
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