the end of a 60 years embargo
March 2015, Habana, Cuba – the Italian artist Gio Montez marks and symbolically celebrates the lifting of the embargo that held Cuban citizens in a condition of political, economic, and cultural isolation for over sixty years. Conceived as a conceptual and material gesture, the action reflects on the transition of Cuba from enforced stasis to an uncertain opening toward the global system.
an archeological artifact
At the core of the action is the work “Black Cloud”, a ready-made installation in which Montez enclosed a cloud of carbon dioxide emitted by a 1930s automobile still circulating in Havana inside a glass jar. The object was preserved and transported from Havana to the Old Continent as if it were an archaeological artifact, transforming an ephemeral residue of everyday life into a symbolic relic of a suspended historical era.
incubation n. f. [from the Latin incubatio -onis, der. of incubating: see incubate].
- In biology, the process by which the embryo develops from the egg, in those animal species in which, once laid, the eggs, in order to continue and complete their development, require particular conditions, care and protection (..)
- Laboratory operation, consisting of leaving a biological material (microbial culture, blood serum, tissue homogenate, etc.) for a given time at a controlled temperature (generally 37 °C) with the aim of developing a specific biological or biochemical process.
- In medicine, the period between the penetration of the germ of an infectious disease into the body and the appearance of the first symptoms of the disease itself.
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fig. The process by which a historical, political, or social event, or an individual decision, slowly matures; also, the time during which this process takes place: the project is still in progress; a long incubation period will be necessary for the implementation of this reform.
The cuban body of work
Alongside Black Cloud, four additional works from the Incubation cycle—three Ventana Viejas and one Bandera Cubana—were made in Cuba by Gio Montez and acquired and conserved by C.I.S.P. at the “Castillo del Jardín Tropical” Museum in Havana, Cuba. The works were formally presented to local authorities and cultural representatives by the then Italian Ambassador Carmine Robustelli and curator Sachie Hernandez.
a vernissage in Havana
During his nearly two-month journey, Gio Montez met most of the artists active in Cuba and visited their studios. At the conclusion of this journey of discovery, Gio Montez and the President of the Ducci Foundation, Paolo Ducci Ferraro di Castiglione, jointly organized a vernissage in a rented private apartment in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood. The inauguration was attended by artists and leading figures of the Cuban cultural scene, including Dr. Jorge Pérez Fernández, Director of the Havana Biennial; Minister of CultureFernando Rojas Gutiérrez; and Ana Cristina Perera Escalona, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts. Many artists participated at the vernissage, some of them exhibiting their works for the first time in a private context, including Choco, Moises Finalè, Alejandro Campins, Osvaldo Guiar, Camillo Villavilla, Luis Enrique, Mabel Poblet.
a neo-dadaist poetic line
The cuban body of work follows a neo-Dadaist poetic line. Through Action No. 8 – Incubation, Gio Montez positions art as an instrument of preservation, translation, and critical memory, capable of transforming the material traces of history into reflective devices for understanding a society in transition. Within this framework, the collage “Incubation – Black Cloud”, dated August 15, 2023, represents a recent development. Conceived as a visual rebus, the collage assembles fragments of cryptic information that refer elsewhere, like a symbol evoking the discontinuous dystopia of Cuban reality and its unresolved tension between past and future.
