Invitation to attend the exhibition.
Our colleague Dr Parvathi Kumaraswami (Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin American Studies) has been working alongside Dr Isabel Story (Nottingham Trent University) on a Cuban culture event that she is leading on at Nottingham Trent.
The exhibition brings together a sample of contemporary film poster design from CartelON, an organisation which aims to keep the silkscreen tradition alive in Cuba and to give visibility to young designers. This is the first time that CartelON have exhibited their work in the UK. The exhibition of posters will be accompanied throughout the week by a series of film screenings illustrating the complexity and diversity of Cuban society, musical performances from Cuban musicians, and public talks.
The Cuban film poster has been quietly asserting the importance of national cultural expression since 1959. This exhibition showcases a range of contemporary Cuban Film Poster design for contemporary and classic works of cinema. The posters exhibited use the same approaches and techniques which emerged within the early years of the Cuban Revolution as part of a government policy. The aim was to encourage the emergence of authentically Cuban cultural expressions which would be produced by nurturing the latent creative talent of the population. In short art for all who wanted it, by all who wanted to make it. Part of this drive involved exploring and bringing together different elements of Cuban national identity and its constituent cultures, as well as encouraging the general public to be active spectators.
Film poster design, which was initially pioneered as an answer to the dominance of Hollywood in Cuba, focused on the big themes of films (and later cultural events, or public information communication) rather than the fame of any of the actors. The conceptual image was embraced, and a multitude of styles were encouraged in a bid to reject any specific style becoming associated with socialism. This tradition which began in the early 1960s is now a recognised part of Cuba’s cultural heritage. CartelON helps to keep this tradition alive by championing the work of young designers. This is the first time these posters have been shown in the UK.
The exhibition is in BACKLIT gallery and runs from Saturday, July 9th until Thursday, July 14th. The exhibition of posters will be accompanied throughout the week by a series of film screenings illustrating the complexity and diversity of Cuban society, musical performances from Cuban musicians, and public talks.