San Gimignano. Founded in 1990 in a garage with just 500 euros in San Gimignano, in the rural area of Tuscany, the continuous gallery is one of the most innovative spaces of international contemporary art. Created by three childhood friends – Lorenzo Fiaschi, Mario Cristiani and Maurizio Rigillo -, without funds or contacts in the art world, the gallery challenged from the beginning the conventions of the sector. Currently, it has eight venues on three continents.
To celebrate their 10 years of presence in Cuba, they organized the exhibition The ability to dream (May 17 – July 9), which presents 40 Cuban artists.
We always start from the passion for art
Fiaschi says from Havana, where he resides. They worked without salary for 10 years and the turning point arrived in 2000 with an exhibition by artist Chen Zhen, when even collector François Pinault acquired work. We transmitted the value of diversity as principle and art as a bridge between cultures
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This anticolonialist approach has guided the international expansion of the gallery, which has deliberately chosen peripheral contexts: an old cinema in San Gimignano (its historical headquarters), a medieval mill in the field an hour from Paris, and since 2015, an old cinema in the Chinese neighborhood of Havana.
The island adventure
During the Marrakech Biennial, Lorenzo Fiaschi and the Cuban curator Laura Salas attended the Paradise Tercer Performance, of Michelangelo Pistoletto: a symbol similar to that of infinity, but with three circles, where the central represents the possibility of harmony between opposites. Impacted by the poetic force of the work, Salas proposed to recreate it in the sea, between Havana and Miami, as a gesture of reconciliation in a context marked by the embargo. In a spontaneous and unofficial action, hundreds of Cuban fishermen formed with their boats said symbol. The next day, on December 17, 2014, Barack Obama and Raúl Castro, presidents of the United States and Cuba, in that order, announced the historic restoration of relations between their nations. That sign – Potent and prophetic.
Pioneers in a complex context
It was continued was the first private and foreign gallery to settle in Cuba, operating as a cultural center. Now there is a bill to legalize the opening of private galleries
explains Fiaschi. His uniqueness on the island has attracted international artists and collectors: “The Financial Times He dedicated an entire page. Our colleagues couldn’t believe it! ”He says.
Artists such as Michelangelo Pistoletto, Anish Kapoor and Daniel Buren, usual from Paris and New York, among other cities, chose to expose in Havana, offering the local public unpublished encounters with global art. His exhibitions, in November 2016, agreed with the death of Fidel Castro: the sample of gunletto was held as planned, before the news, while that of Kapoor, scheduled for the next day, was officially canceled by national mourning, but was carried out with the lights off, with visitors illuminating the works with the flashlights of their cell phones.
Promot
Continua has played a decisive role in the international projection of numerous Cuban artists, promoting them at fairs and exhibitions in Europe and Asia. An emblematic example is Yoan Capote, whose monumental work was selected for Art Unlimited in Art Basel among more than a thousand proposals, and then acquired by an important museum.
This commitment has not only improved the visibility of the artists of the island, but also their living conditions: We have seen them pass from living and working in rooms of four by four meters to have decent spaces where they can live and create with freedom
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International collectors are attracted to the originality and expressive strength of Cuban art, even before knowing their origin. According to Fiaschi, Cuban art impresses because it is not easily classifiable: it does not respond to a uniform or folkloric aesthetic, but is deeply heterogeneous and individual, with strong identities and very personal styles.
The context of geopolitical isolation has led many Cuban creators to develop creative solutions with limited resources, generating rich works in ingenuity and symbolic depth. This combination of shortage and conceptual wealth fascinates an audience that recognizes in these works a truly universal vocation.
Censorship and freedom of expression
On dissident artist Tania Bruguera, Fiaschi recognizes the importance of freedom of expression, but criticizes her approach. Refers to your request to make the Performance Tatlin’s Whisper (Tatlin’s whisper) In the Plaza de la Revolución, for which it invites Cubans to speak freely through an open microphone – action that made years before at the Havana Biennial. On that occasion, it was proposed to do it elsewhere, but she insisted, which led her to be put under house arrest.
The same action in the Plaza de San Pedro in Italy, speaking against the Pope, would also have legal consequences
says Fiaschi, who qualifies the action of provocative and out of time
especially at a time when Cuba and the United States began a dialogue process.
Global vision and opening
The continuous gallery approach is based on a long -term vision and an openness to cultural diversity. “We started working in India, the Middle East and China 20 years ago – in China we were the first foreign gallery – when everyone wondered what we were doing there.” Everything seemed distant and difficult to understand, but stimulating: They were cultural spices with which our plate is too Eurocentrist
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Your goal: Fuse different worlds. Over time, these routes have enriched their evolution. The same vision led them to invest in the Dubai fair, anticipating dynamics that are reflected today in the newly announced organization of Art Basel in Doha.
Cuba is a great cultural country
Fiaschi concludes, with worldwide artists, writers and musicians. The embargo, in force for 63 years, is one of the longest economic sanctions in modern history. Most Cubans were not born yet during the revolution. This blockade not only represents a practical problem, but also prevents clearly evaluating the true abilities of the government. The fear of American superpower generates irrational decisions. Fear does not favor lucidity. Returning peace to Cuba would also mean returning freedom and new air
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