« One million dollars » by Wilfredo Prieto was one of the most talked-about pieces displayed at ARCO Madrid, which took place last week. It consists of a one-dollar bill fit between two mirrors in such a way that the dollar image is indefinitely reproduced. The piece’s selling price is indicated by its name, and Prieto requires that potential buyers sign a contract that forbids them from selling it for any sum other than $1 million. The work is insured for its nominal value and a guard surveys it at all times. With this very original piece, Prieto sought to discuss the relationship between art and the speculative market. 

The work of Cuban artists Alexandre Arrechea, Carlos Garaicoa, and Wilfredo Prieto will be present at the 2012 edition of Madrid’s leading contemporary art fair, ARCO, which will take place from February 15-19th. Also representing Cuba will be Los Carpinteros, an artistic duo formed by Marco Antonio Castillo Valdés and Dagoberto Rodríguez Sánchez.

Starting on January 27th, the Wilfredo Lam Center for Contemporary Art (Havana) will host "Paisaje a los 37 años" (“Landscape at 37 years old”), a retrospective exhibition of the work of Cuban artist José Emilio Fuentes Fonseca, better known as “JEFF”. The exhibition aims at presenting the different phases that have defined JEFF’s work during his 15-year artistic career, from his fascination with toys and childhood to his pieces centered on grief and mourning, without forgetting his famous elephants displayed at the 2009 Biennial and his more recent work’s marked activism.

To get more information
-    on the exhibition, see Wifredo Lam Center

Rodrigo and Gabriela, a renowned guitar duo, release on January 24th “Area 52”, a Cuba-inspired album recorded with the orchestra C.U.B.A. whose members are among the island’s finest musicians. The album release also marks the start of a European and North American tour alongside C.U.B.A.

EUROPE
19/02- The Olympia, Dublin, Ireland 
21/02 - The Academy, Glasgow, Scotland 
22/02 - The Ritz, Manchester, England  
24 /02- Brixton Academy, London, England  (sold out)
26/02 - Cirque Royal, Brussels, Belgium  
27/02 - Olympia, Paris, France (sold out)
28 /02- Olympia, Paris, France 
01/03 - Les Docks, Lausanne, Switzerland  (sold out)
02/03 - Komplex 457, Zurich, Switzerland  
03/04 - The Paramount, Seattle, WA  

US & CANADA
04/04 - Arlene Scnitzer Concert Hall, Portland, OR 
05/04 - Fox Theatre, Oakland, CA
07 /04- Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA 

From January 12^th until February 18^th, New York’s MagnanMetz Gallery will host “Listening to Silence”, the first US solo exhibition for Glenda León. Through her work, this young Havana-born artist explores the interaction between sound and silence; the visible and the invisible; the ephemeral and the eternal. She is also interested in synesthesia, or the association of different senses. In this manner, she aims at creating “visual poetry” that stimulates the senses in such a way that the spectator “sees sounds and hears images.”

MagnanMetz Gallery

Glenda León

The dates and venues are as follows:

05.01 – ROMA- CUBA LINDA

06.01 – VERONA- RUMBO CARIBE

07.01 - FIRENZE – TROPICANA

08.01 – MADRID – FLORIDA PARK

13.01 – NAPOLI – PALA PARTENOPE

14.01 – MILANO – COCOPAPAYA

15.01 – TORINO – GANAS DE MAR

18.01 – ROMA – CARUSO

Like every year since 1973, the city of Havana will be the venue of the Festival Internacional del Nuevo Cine Latinoamericano from December 1^st to 11^th. In light of the occasion, the film 7 Days in Havana –led by a world-class group of directors and coordinated by the renowned Cuban author Leonardo Padura- will be premiered as part of the official selection. Cuban rum maker Havana Club International and independent producers Morena (También la lluvia, Cell 21, Che) and Full House (11 Fleurs) collaborated in the making of this film.

The film is presented as a mosaic of seven stories that take place in Havana over the course of one week. The purpose of the movie is to provide a snapshot of modern Havana in all its complexity.

Seven Days in Havana’s international team of directors includes Benicio del Toro (Puerto Rico - Traffic, 21 Grams, Che); Pablo Trapero (Argentina- Mundo Grúa, El Bonaerense,  Leonera, Carancho); Elia Suleiman (Palestine- Divine Intervention, The Time That Remains); Julio Medem (Spain- Los amantes del Círculo Polar, Lucía y el sexo); Gaspar Noé (Argentina/France- Enter the Void, Irreversible); Juan Carlos Tabío (Cuba-Fresa y chocolate, Guantanamera, Plaff, Lista de Espera); and Laurent Cantet (France- Entre les murs). Emir Kusturica (Serbia- When Father Was Away on Business, Underground), Daniel Brühl (Germany/Spain-Goodbye Lenin!), and Jorge Perugorría (Cuba- Fresa y chocolate, Che) are part of the cast.

The Cuban ensemble Los Van Van recently presented its newest album, La Maquinaria, produced by Empresa de Garabaciones y Ediciones Musicales (EGREM). Juan Formell, the group’s founder, explains that the objective was “to offer a sort of retrospective of the orchestra’s 42-year career and to bring back its initial sonority”. In this manner, the new album combines new tracks with updated versions of past hits like Recíbeme and Eso que va.

This is the videoclip of a very original track from the new Gilles Peterson Havana Cultura album entitled "Si esta es mi mamá", in which El Tipo Este raps with his mom, Mrs. Maria Mola Jiménez. Enjoy!

The renowned Cuban writer Leonardo Padura, author of Cuatro estaciones and El hombre que amaba a los perros, has obtained the Roger Caillois prize in the Latin American literature category. Past laureates include heavyweights like Mario Vargas Llosa, Carlos Fuentes, or Roberto Bolaño. The awards ceremony will take place in Paris on December 7^th at the Maison de l’Amérique Latine.