Tania Bruguera battles censorship by launching project in Cuba
The artist and activist Tania Bruguera says that she is planning to launch an investigative journalism initiative at her institution in Cuba—comprising workshops and awards.
“Journalists in Cuba are not familiar with investigative journalism so we are adding to the prize an educational component where we bring in international investigative journalists to give workshops,” she says.
The move follows her ongoing campaign against Decree 349, a law recently passed in Cuba which requires artists to receive approval from the government before their projects are mounted.
Bruguera announced her plans at the Manchester International Festival where she is presenting a new project entitled School of Integration. Scheduled sessions include From Tai Chi to Samba (14 July) and Get Your Freek On (8 July).
“I think it’s important to talk about integration as a two-way road,” she says.
The School of Integration project takes on extra resonance in the post-Brexit era, says John Byrne, a reader in The Uses of Art at Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Art and Design.
Bruguera announces on social media that she intends to restage her performance on free speech, Tatlin’s Whisper.
In the piece, which was last performed in Havana at the 2009 Biennial, participants are given a microphone and one minute to speak about anything they choose.