International circulation in the Caribbean I Jose Manuel Noceda Fernandez

Keywords

Contemporary Caribbean art, international resonance, regional integration

Abstract

The dynamic international expansion of Caribbean art in the first decade of the 21st century has brought it a new visibility, long after the Latin-American boom or the rise of Africa, however. It is true that attempting to give a general overview of the Caribbean is difficult due to its geographic dispersion, to the uneven economic development resulting from the after-effects of colonisation and to the structural asymmetry between the Lesser and the Greater Antilles. As a result, the Caribbean presence in major international events has remained limited. The restrictive approach that was in vogue until the 1980s, which mainly highlighted Afro-Caribbean mythologies, primitivism or magic realism, did it no favours. Yet, at the end of the 1980s, the Caribbean began to explore new visual languages. Although the promotional efforts underlined the lack of regional inter-connections.

The main events, originating in the Caribbean or outside, are then analysed. Their curatorial errors, linked to an uncertain geocultural definition of the Caribbean or to a principle of egalitarianism in the selection of regions, are highlighted.

On the other hand, the beneficial contribution made by the Havana Biennial, with its rigorous curatorial profile, opened the doors of international resonance to an emerging generation and gave rise to a new approach to Caribbean art from critics.

Context

This text, published in the Atlantica Internacional journal in 1999 and in an updated version in volume 2 of Arte Sur in 2010, examines an issue that is still topical: the progressive but difficult spread of Caribbean art to the international circuit.

 

José Manuel Noceda

José Manuel Noceda is one of the curators of the Wifredo Lam Centre and of the Havana Biennial. He is a specialist in Caribbean and Latin American art. He was the curator of the Cuenca Biennial in Ecuador in 2009 and the Triennial of Contemporary Art in the Dominican Republic in 2010.

 

Read the full text on the site of AICA: 
http://aica-sc.net/2015/04/21/international-circulation-in-the-caribbean/

Articulos en espanol : 
http://aica-sc.net/2015/04/21/la-circulacion-internacional-del-caribe/

Full text in french