CUBA: FIRST FESTIVAL OF EPHEMERAL ART WITH SCULPTURES MADE OF ICE, BUTTER, CHOCOLATE AND MUD IN HAVANA

Record ID: 861228

  • Title: CUBA: FIRST FESTIVAL OF EPHEMERAL ART WITH SCULPTURES MADE OF ICE, BUTTER, CHOCOLATE AND MUD IN HAVANA
  • Date: 9th June 2003
  • Summary: (L!2) HAVANA, CUBA, (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) VARIOUS OF PAPER SCULPTURES (5 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF A WATER/MUD WATCH (4 SHOTS) VARIOUS OF A CHILDREN'S TOY ON FIRE (4 SHOTS) SCU (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NELSON E. ENRIQUEZ, ARTIST, SAYING: "I want to have my message arrive as quickly as possible with the most primitive resources possible." MV TOY BURNING
  • Embargoed: 24th June 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: HAVANA, CUBA
  • City:
  • Country: Cuba
  • Topics: Quirky,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVA6G5M7IGB89KB5DR6NLRRO5Y7B
  • Aspect Ratio:
  • Story Text: Cuba's first festival of ephemeral art has brought dozens of sculptures made of of ice, butter, chocolate and mud to Havana.
    Cuba's first ephemeral art festival lasted barely an hour and a half on Friday (June 6) as the butter paintings and ice sculptures began to melt, the children ate the cupcakes hung from a tree and the grand piano went up in flames.
    For the artists, the rapid disappearance of their works had the desired effect.
    "I want to have my message arrive as quickly as possible with the most primitive resources possible," said one of the artists, Nelson Enriquez.
    There were sculptures made from flowers, paper and cardboard egg trays, butter, mud and ice, all competing for the best exhibit of transitory art in a park in Havana's inner city.
    The winner, Jeanette Chavez, a 22-year-old art student who won a night out at Havana's famed Tropicana cabaret, poured gasoline on a wooden piano structure and set fire to it while minimalist piano music blared from speakers.
    A tower of ice with books inside, evoking the Alexandria library and lighthouse of ancient Egypt, melted in the tropical heat. Children swarmed around a tree, grabbing at chocolate cupcakes, which artists had hung like mobiles.
    For the event's organiser, the expedition had a deeper meaning.
    "I think it's important for artists to gather in favor of peace," said the organizer of the event, Asalia Arias,
    "to gather against something, and if that something is going to be something truly ephemeral it would be war."
    The most elaborate entry was 'The Four Seasons,' a series of relief paintings made of butter by hotel chef Jorge Gonzalez, who copied the fruit and flower portraits of 16th Century Italian painter Giussepe Arcimboldo.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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