From March 3 through April 28, 2012.
Miami Dade College’s (MDC) renowned Art Gallery System, in collaboration with Wolfson Focus on the Humanities, MDC’s Miami International Film Festival, and the University of Miami’s Cuban Culture on the Edge, presents Felipe Dulzaides’ exhibition, Utopía Posible, at its National Historic Landmark Freedom Tower.
Utopía Posible is a body of work that addresses the architecture and the completion process of Cuban National Art Schools (Instituto Superior de Arte or ISA). Even though three of the five buildings remain unfinished, the schools are acknowledged as the most outstanding architectural achievement of the Cuban Revolution. Felipe Dulzaides was born in Cuba, to a family of musicians and writers. He studied drama at ISA. Working in a variety of media, his work departs from autobiographical experiences, actions with allegorical resonance and trans-cultural notions.
Dulzaides’ work has been widely exhibited nationally and internationally. The project Utopía Posible was included in the 7th Gwangju Biennial and the 10th Havana Biennial. He is the recipient of many prestigious awards including the Cintas Fellowship, Creative Work Fund, Art Matters and the Rome Prize. He also has developed public art projects that include billboards, interactive inflatable sculptures and a video piece for LAX. Dulzaides, who studied documentary photography at Miami Dade College and received a MFA from the New Genres department at the San Francisco Art Institute, is also an educator.
The exhibition opens during the college’s Miami International Film Festival, which is presenting a related documentary, Unfinished Spaces, about the National Arts School. Dulzaide appears in the film and will also participate in a discussion panel, Architecture of the Art Schools: Time & Passion, which will bring together documentary directors Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray from New York to discuss how Unfinished Spaces was made and what it means for Americans to shoot a film in Cuba. Roberto Gottardi from Havana will address his experiences as an architect in Cuba during the early years of the Revolution and his plans for the school of drama. Dr. Eberto García Abreu represents the theater arts program in Havana’s University of the Arts School and will detail the challenges of working in one of the “unfinished spaces.” Dulzaides will share his experiences studying and creating at the school.
The panel will take place at 4:00 p.m. Sunday, March 4, at the Freedom Tower. It is presented by the University of Miami’s Cuban Culture on the Edge and MDC’s Miami International Film Festival and is organized by Dr. Lillian Manzor and moderated by UM Architecture Professor Jean Francois LeJeune. Co-sponsors include the University of Miami’s School of Architecture, University of Miami’s Center for Latin American Studies, Miami Consortium for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, The Center for Latin American and Caribbean Initiatives at Miami Dade College, and Women’s and Gender Studies at University of Miami; it is supported in part by funds from the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to Italian language and culture at the University of Miami.
Seating is limited to 75 people, on a first-come, first-serve basis. For additional information, please contact MDC’s Art Gallery System at 305.237.7700.
Miami Dade College Art Gallery System
600 Biscayne Blvd.
Miami, FL 33137
305.237.7700
www.mdc.edu
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