The Cuban artist and activist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, who is being held in jail in Cuba, has invited artists and curators attending the forthcoming Havana Biennial (15 November-28 February) to visit him in prison as part of a special art project. Otero Alcántara, who has been imprisoned since 2021, is currently detained in Guanajay, a maximum-security penitentiary southwest of Havana.
He says in a phone call from prison: “To the artists, theorists, collectors and art lovers who will visit the 2024 biennial, I invite you to see my work and become part of it. It’s called Proof of Life. One special person will be chosen to visit me in prison and spend one or two hours with me in conversation about art and other things.
“The biennial began as an opportunity for artists from the periphery, and those that have been displaced. Since I can’t go to the event, why not bring [the biennial] to the artist?”
According to Coco Fusco, a Cuban-US artist who is campaigning for Otero Alcántara’s release, he decided to participate in the event because of "the hypocrisy of the government in presenting a biennial in a climate of repression and censorship".
Otero Alcántara was detained on 11 July 2021 on charges of contempt and insult to national symbols, after posting a video to social media saying he planned to join the anti-government protests which swept the country that day. The co-founder of the San Isidro freedom movement, Otero Alcántara has gone on hunger strike several times during his incarceration. The Cuban Embassy in London was contacted for comment.
The theme of the 15th Havana Biennial, which is organised by the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Arts Centre in Havana, is “shared horizons”. Individuals interested in taking part in Otero Alcántara’s project should contact the Cuban Ministry of the Interior, which was contacted for comment.