I am happy to announce that I am working in the development of Bancontodos, This piece is being invited to participate in Detrás del Muro (Behind the Wall); one of the events related to the XI Havana Biennial (11.05.2012 - 11.06.2012).
Project supported by Mondriaan Fonds, Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten and DéisKa
Bancontodos (Encounter Place series)
580 x 323 x 100 cm
Cast bronze and Plywood
2012
(Text: Juan Carlos Betancourt, Berlin 25.03.2012)
Among the vast wealth of actions that identify the political ideas of José Martí, one that best captures his visionary sense while proving the enduring actualness of his work as social mediator is reconciliation. In 1891 this prolific thinker for Cubans envisioned a Voltarian Republic, rich in possibilities and virtue, yet full of faults as it will be “composed by humans". His premature death in 1895 robbed us of the practical realization of his program. When interpreting the ideas in his writings and the intentions of his actions, it is not difficult to see that ‘el maestro’ (the master) was concocting a plan of civil reconciliation. He envisioned a reconciliation that would leave the stress behind and unite in one fluid motion, the common interest of the opposing tendencies of the nascent postcolonial Cuban society. In 2012, Inti Hernandez revisited these ideas and, fascinated by the timelessness of Marti’s vision, began to interrogate it. For Hernandez these ideals take the form of an encounter place - where the possibility of transcendence is more important than the duality of its nature. Embarking from this point, he proposed a bench shaped in the form of a lying eight, a paradigm of flexibility and balance; as a metaphor, perhaps the one that best embodies the society envisioned by Marti 121 years ago, "counting on everyone and for the good of all".
Further more I am glad to inform you that we are almost ready to start building Openlucht Lokaal. This project is a response to the invitation of NotreDame school (Ubbergen, Netherlands) and the Foundation for Art in Public Space in The Netherlands (SKOR) to design and build a “classroom” for outdoor lessons.
The piece intends to generate an encounter place for students and other members of the school as much as for visitors and people passing by. Surrounded by a fantastic green area, Openlucht Lokaal will confirm two of the pedagogical principals of the NotreDame school: a horizontality in their pedagogical approach and their aim for generating and supporting a harmonious coexistence between man and nature.
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