September
25, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Tom Hutton, 262-3439
Margo Baker, 262-3832
CU-COLORADO SPRINGS
TO HOST CUBAN ARTISTS
COLORADO
SPRINGS, COLO — “Café II: The Journeys of Cuban Artists,”
a multi-media exhibit curated by Cuban artist Leandro Soto, opens with
a reception from 5 – 8 p.m. Oct. 11 at the Gallery of Contemporary
Art on the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs campus.
Café is a
fundamental aspect of Cuban cultural identity and social ritual. All
of the works explore the dual themes of displacement and cultural identity,
while raising fundamental questions about whether it’s possible
to create a unique artistic voice in a foreign cultural context.
“Cuban coffee
is noted for its strength…..drinking coffee is part of everyday
life on the Island—a social ritual that conforms to and maintains
the intensity of the Cuban character,” Soto said.
The theme of this exhibit functions as a kind of poetic metaphor for
an essential aspect of Cuban cultural identity. “A connection,”
Soto suggests, “that binds all Cubans together. In effect it is
a way to preserve our identity wherever we are.”
The artists included
in this exhibit are all Cuban expatriates. Although most were educated
in Cuba, they represent different generations and widely varied experiences.
Creating their
art in distinct cultural contexts, including Russia, France, Mexico,
and Puerto Rico, each professes to maintain strong connections to her
or his cultural roots.
According to Soto,
this exhibit represents an attempt to explore the manner in which displacement
reinforces and also transforms cultural identity. All of the works in
this collection thus reflect upon the themes of exile, culture, and
identity.
In addition to the
exhibit, the Ethnic Studies Program will be hosting a two-day symposium,
which will feature five of the artists exhibiting in the collection
(Soto, Pedro Portal, Ana Albertina Delgado, Laura Luna, and Adriano
Buergo). Additionally, the internationally recognized Cuban poet and
art critic, Ricardo Pau-Llosa, and cultural critic-philosopher, Grisel
Pujála, will also be featured.
All events are
free and open to the public. The symposium can also be taken as a one-credit
course entitled “Journeys of Cuban Artists” (EST 390-02).
For more information, contact Gerry Riggs, director, Gallery of Contemporary
Art, 262-3567.
The Gallery of
Contemporary Art, the Office of Academic Diversity and Development,
the Ethnic Studies Program, the Faculty Minority Affairs Committee,
and the Center for the Study of the Government and the Individual are
sponsors of the exhibit.
Andrea Herrera,
the American-born daughter of a Cuban mother and an Irish American father,
spearheaded the exhibit and the symposium as part of Hispanic Heritage
Month. Herrera, assistant vice chancellor for academic diversity and
development, will be available to autograph copies of her books, “The
Pearl of the Antilles” and “ReMembering Cuba: Legacy of
a Diaspora,” both of which focus upon the Cuban diaspora.
CU-Colorado Springs,
located on Austin Bluffs Parkway in northeast Colorado Springs, is the
fastest growing university in Colorado and one of the fastest growing
universities in the nation. The university offers 25 bachelor’s degrees,
17 master’s and two doctoral degrees. The campus enrolls more than 7,400
students annually.
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