Planet/Cuba
Art, Culture, and the Future of the Island
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Transformations in Cuban art, literature and culture in the post-Fidel era
Cuba has been in a state of massive transformation over the past decade, with its historic resumption of diplomatic relations with the United States only the latest development. While the political leadership has changed direction, other forces have taken hold. The environment is under threat, and the culture feels the strain of new forms of consumption.
Planet/Cuba examines how art and literature have responded to a new moment, one both more globalized and less exceptional; more concerned with local quotidian worries than international alliances; more threatened by the depredations of planetary capitalism and climate change than by the vagaries of the nation’s government. Rachel Price examines a fascinating array of artists and writers who are tracing a new socio-cultural map of the island.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Price (The Object of the Atlantic: Concrete Aesthetics in Cuba, Brazil, and Spain 1868 1968), a professor in Princeton University's department of Spanish and Portuguese languages and cultures, delves into Cuban art, culture, economics, and politics in this fine overview. She astutely discusses the nuances of Cuban visual and literary culture, and describes the art from the island nation as inextricably tied to economy, ecology, and history. Organized around several themes, the comprehensive text describes a culture responding to "climate change, accelerating capitalism" and "pervasive surveillance," and includes musings on literature, film, installation, painting, photography, and poetry. Price describes Cuban culture and art as "both typical of global trends, and singular." Common themes include anxieties concerning rising seas and climate change, shown by Luis Enrique Camejo's eerie paintings of a flooded Havana; the unconquerable invasive weed marabu, often used as a symbol of the failure of state power; and the militarization of culture, as seen in Samuel Riera's magazines, which are printed on empty bags of military-grade cement. This meticulously detailed text is a productive exploration of globalized Cuban art and culture. B&w photos.
