ARTEX’s Paradiso Is the Official Incoming Agency of the Havana Biennial

The twelfth edition of the Havana Biennial, an eminently cultural event, will be held from May 22-June 22, 2015. Once again, Paradiso (www.paradiso.cu), ARTEX’s agency specializing in cultural tourism, is the official incoming agency of this event, which already has over 30 years of experience under its belt.

Paradiso has prepared two special programs for attendees to enjoy during their stays during this event, considered one of the most remarkable international artistic tradeshows developed in Cuba.

The first, called "Cuba, the Art of Color" allows visitors to combine the main factors in the development of an artistic work (matter, time and space), so they can interpret the context in which it is located as a spectator. It lasts six days and all activities take place in Havana.

The second: "Love Turns Clay into Miracles", is a full day in the city of Matanzas, known as "The Athens of Cuba".

The "Cuba, the Art of Colors" program includes the following activities:

Day One:
In the afternoon: Inauguration (May 22) or meeting with fine artists at the "Café des Artistes" family restaurant in Old Havana.
Evening: Free evening to enjoy cultural options.

Day Two:
9:00 am: Panoramic tour of the modern part of the city (districts of Centro Havana, Vedado and Miramar) with stops at major points and landmarks: National Capitol, Revolution Square, Colón Cemetery, etc. Tour around Collage Habana Gallery to enjoy the works of contemporary artists. Lunch at La Imprenta restaurant.
Afternoon: Walk through the main streets and squares of the historic center (Arms Square, San Francisco de Assisi, Old Town Square and the Cathedral), dedicated to learning about the best of the architectural heritage of colonial Havana. Visit to La Casona Gallery with a collection of Cuban Contemporary Art. Visit to the Diago Gallery with a collective collection of Naïf Art. Visit to the Center for Visual Arts Development. Visit to the Photo Library of Cuba to watch a huge collection of Cuban photographs and endowments. Visit to the René Portocarrero Silkscreen Workshop, expo and sale of pictures of young Cuban artists who can be seen doing their works. Visit to the Habana Gallery.
Evening: Visit to the Gallery of Contemporary Art family restaurant. This is not a café in the Choro Alley. Dinner at the place where dishes that recreate contemporary artworks are served.

Day Three:
9:00 a.m.: Visit to workshops: Studio 331: Artist: Alex Hernández Dueñas / Adrian Fernandez / Frank Mujica (Playa), The Laundry Artist: Rafael Perez Alonso (Playa), Studio 61: The Merger (Vedado). Lunch at the El Baco restaurant, National Museum of Fine Arts, Building of Contemporary Art
In the evening: Encounter with Cuban art at the National Museum of Fine Arts.
Evening: Free evening to enjoy cultural options

Day Four:
9:00 a.m.: Visit to the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center. This is a cultural institution dedicated to the study, research and promotion of contemporary visual arts from developing countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean. Discussion: The Contemporary Cuban Art, offered by curators of the Havana Biennial. Lunch at the Tejadillo Hostel.
Afternoon: Visit to the Servando Gallery.
Evening: Dinner at the Casa Española restaurant. A chance to revel in jam sessions with the finest exponents of Cuban jazz at the ARTEX Cultural Center, Miramar Café

Day Five:
9:00 a.m.: Visits to galleries and workshops of the following artists: Study Esterio Segura (Cerro), Studio 7 y 60: Artists: Ma Cienfuegos, Adriana Arronte, Elizabeth Cervino, Dania Ramírez González and Lisandra. Lunch at the "El Rancho" restaurant. Meeting with Jorge Zaldivar, Cuban plastic artist, known worldwide as the painter of wood, creator of the technique of painting with powder made of precious woods.
In the afternoon: Visit to the Higher Institute of Arts (ISA). Visit to the San Alejandro Academy and meeting with students and teachers. Visit to related exposures and collateral biennial collections.
At night: Gallery night at the Lighthouse Studio of artist Kadir Lopez. Meeting with the artist and a chance to enjoy his work. Cuban dinner with the artist and his family.

Day Six:
9:00 a.m.: Visit to the Muraleando Community Project. Music, visual and performing arts cohabit in it, a futuristic and reunifying community project spearheaded by an artist that has become a missionary of arts in the community. The project provides culture, development opportunities and a different neighborhood with neighbors prepared and responsible for works in which they are the main stars. Visit to workshops: Roberto Diago (Víbora). Lunch at the "La Florentina" restaurant at the Capri Hotel.
Afternoon: Visit to workshops: Yoan Capote & Ivan (Vedado), Rigoberto Mena (Playa). Visits to related exposures and collateral biennial collections.
Evening: Farewell dinner with live music show.

The program "Love Turns Clay into Miracles" contains the following activities in the city of Matanzas:

8:30 a.m.: Departure from Havana to Matanzas.
10:30 a.m.: Visit to the Art Gallery at the Velazco Hotel, in the center of the city, and enjoy a refreshing drink.
11 a.m.: Visit to Ediciones Vigia. Institution that publishes books, leaflets, magazines, catalogs and others, with rustic materials, disposable paper, industrial waste, natural elements, textiles and others. Fully manufactured. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has an important collection of works by Ediciones Vigia. Meeting with designers and artists from the publishing house.
11:45 a.m.: Visit to the gallery-workshop of artists Osmany Betancourt (Lolo) and Manuel Hernandez, Matanzas-winning artists, graduates of the best schools of fine arts in the country. Osmany Betancourt (Lolo) has numerous sculptures at the Museum of Ceramics, private collections in the U.S., Spain, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands and France. Manuel Hernández’s sculptures are exhibited at National Museum of Fine Arts and in private collections, like the ones owned by Geraldine Chaplin, Mario Benedetti and the Danielle Mitterrand Foundation, among others.
12:30 pm: Departure for the Coincidencias Estate.
1:30 pm: Arriving at the Coincidencias Estate is witnessing how much beauty can emerge from the hands of a man and a woman, where there is no boundary between art and nature. Recognized as agro-ecological and sustainable production, it soon became the place of choice to plant art in a way that spiritually enriches the community and keeps the fire of creation burning. Birthplace and venue of the "Art of Fire" Biennial since 2008.

•    Picnic lunch made with organic products produced on the farm.
•    Tour around the farm in the company of one of its owners, explaining the place.
•    Meet the artists working in or visiting the pottery (owners, their three children and friends)
•    Manufacture of ceramic pieces by customers, together with the artists at the workshop.
•    A chance to purchase works exhibited in the small gallery shop

4:00 pm: Departure to Havana. Transit visit to the Bacunayagua Bridge watchtower, one of the seven wonders of Cuban civil engineering in the twentieth century. Panoramic view of the Yumurí Valley.
7:00 PM: Return to hotel.

The Havana Biennial will turn Cuba for a whole month into the capital of the finest contemporary visual art. Experimentation transformed into tangible creation is presented in the exhibition spaces of the city and in parks and squares, something that allows the socialization of exhibition projects, urban intervention and other forms of art. Attendees will join hands with prominent artistic creators, researchers and art critics. A theoretical space for reflection on trends and social impact of contemporary art is also planned.

Contact:
Aimé del Carmen Pavón Escalona
Marketing Specialist for Events
Paradiso Cultural Tourism
Email: eventos3@paradis.ARTEX.cu / eventosparadisss@gmail.com
Tel: (537) 836-5381/838-3908