Sometimes everybody knows that things will change – in a relationship, in politics, in society. This change could come tomorrow, or next year, or in ten years. It could come overnight or with time. But it will come. It will not look like one predicted, but it also might not be totally different. So: Shouldn’t one better be prepared?
When in 1989 the Berlin wall and one Communist regime after the other fell, it came as a surprise to almost everyone. As a result many things were done hastily, the change often was just a sell-out. Today we witness the results: Ruined social systems, broken biographies and the rise of right-wing populism.
In Cuba the road to change turns out to be driven in slow motion. Since 1989 it is clear change will come. But it still didn’t yet. How to use the time till the inevitable will happen? How to prepare? What is plan A, plan B or even plan C? What does one want to keep, what to change? Who wants to play a role?
¿Cómo estar preparado para lo (im)predecible? was a half day marathon with performances, readings, lectures, surveys, talks, and a party resulting from a workshop given by Joanna Warsza and Florian Malzacher on invitation of Tania Bruguera at INSTAR – Instituto de Artivismo Hannah Arendt, her newly found institute for artistic activism in Havana. In its rigid, fast rhythm the marthon produced a feeling of urgency that contrasts the seemingly lethargic political atmosphere in Cuba. The fragmented, sometimes improvised character of the presented works by young Cuban artists enabled the audience to interfere, react, discuss, go along – and created an atmosphere of open, engaged, brave and generous exchange. Tania Bruguera says that INSTAR exist when there is a feeling of freedom. That night her private house became a public space.
With Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Boris González Arenas, Yuri Obregón Batard, Fernando Bon, Tania Bruguera, Julio Lópiz Casal, Yaser Castellanos, Yimi Conklase, Miguel Coyula, Abel González Fernández, José Ernesto Alonso Fernández, Iris Ruiz Hernandez, Hamlet Lavastida, Adonis Milán, Yanelis Nuñez, Amaury Pacheco, Nonardo Perea Lia Villares
