1. No category

LEVI ORTA
PORTFOLIO
Havana, Cuba; 1984.
[email protected]
www.ortalevi.blogspot.com
(+34)674701809
(+53)5274 9532
SINGING ALONE, 2014
Video-Installation
2 channels of video
Dimensions variable
The installation is composed for 12 videos which showing politicians from different countries singing.
The politicians who compose this symphony are: Vladimir Putin, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Hugo
Chavez, Raul Castro, Silvio Berlusconi, Rafael Correa, Nicolás Maduro, Evo Morales, Tony Blair, Pablo
Iglesias and Fernando Lugo. These videos are not false or manipulated, are extracts from public
moments of these politicians where they have decided to sing.
Installation view.
POLITICAL CREATION, 2010-2013
Video-Installation
Series of paintings and drawings, Video with 10 chapters of file pictures
Dimensions variable
I reproduce the drawings and paintings made by famous politicians. I study the History through the
subjectivity of their protagonists. These subjectivities are explored using the exercise of the copy of
their artistic creations.
The politicians that I studied until now are: Adolf Hitler, Winston Churchill, Francisco Franco, Ernesto
CheGuevara, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Alberto Fujimori, Vladimir Putin, Dmitri Medvédev, Hugo Chavez,
and George W. Bush.
Installation view.
COPY OF A WORK OF FRANCISCO FRANCO TRAVELING SAFELY
THROUGHOUT SPAIN, 2014
Installation
Oil on canvas
70x76x66cm
In this art work I use the copy as an analytical method. Copy of a work of Francisco Franco traveling
safely throughout Spain, focuses on the figure of El Caudillo, not with the only aim of analyze their
subjectivity through his art, if not with the even greater intention to review its validity in the current
politic of the Spanish State.
Vista de la instalación.
Detail.
PERVERTED JOKE, 2014
Installation
12 poems on politicians
Dimensions variable
Twelve framed poems dedicated to political leaders form an installation that mimics a supposed
assembly or disassembly process in which only two of these, randomly chosen, are been positioned
correctly. The poems are dedicated to Barack Obama, Salvador Allende, Fidel Castro, Ho Chi Minh,
Nelson Mandela, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Francisco Franco, Hugo Chavez, Vladimir Putin, Evo
Morales and Kim JongIl.
Installation view.
Installation view.
Detail.
AUTOMATIONS, 2014
installation
drawings on documents + briefcase
Dimensions variable
I collect the nonsense drawings made by politicians during their meetings in the Cuban National
Assembly. These drawings are made on political documents.
Installation view.
VOYEUR, 2014.
Two 9-inch tablets.
50 meters of electric cable
Installation
Dimensions variable
Voyeur it´s a package of documentary photographs viewed at tablets that show how politicians spend
their time in meetings. They are images from the internet, where we can see duels of scrabble, buy
lingerie in the Congress of Deputies, poker games like John McCain in the Senate of the United States
when the possible invasion of Syria was discussed, and we can even see some of the politicians
engrossed with pornographic pages. An electrical long cable rolled gives permanently power to both
tablets, energy for the reproduction of these amusements.
Installation view
ARTWORK DONATION TO A POLITICAL ART MUSEUM, 2010
Undercover operation and documentation
Action-Installation
Dimensions variable
The secret intelligence and counterintelligence center of the Cuban Ministry of the Interior has agents
who oversee and control all the cultural activities held in the country. These agents have always been
more or less evidently present in the Cuban artistic milieu, depending on the Ministry´s policy. Using
counterespionage techniques Orta infiltrates a politically charged artwork in the Ministry of the
Interior files in order to follow the bureaucratic paths of censorship in Cuba.
Installation view.
Frames.
SIGNATURE, 2012
Three watercolors on paper
29x15cm
Alemania.
I copied the drawings of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs made by Adolf Hitler, the only change I
made was to make the Fuhrer's signature in gold. Until now only three drawings has been found.
Installation view.
Detail.
TEST , 2010
Smoke bomb, text, phones, curators.
Action-Installation
Dimensions variable
The project consisted in put a smoke bomb in the gallery. The bomb is programmed to explode at a
given time every day. The curator of the exhibition has in his hands the possibility of preventing the
explosion with call a phone number which aborts the detonation which then would pass to the
following day. He, therefore, has to repeat the operation every day.
Installation view.
Installation view.
THE GHOST´S DEATH OR PLAYING TO HAPPY ENDING , 2014
Series of conferences + Documentation
HDV, mono-channel, color, stereo sound, 16:9, 1:34:00 min.
I proposed to the Cuban Ministry of the Interior develop a project jointly about self-censorship in
cultural institutions. The project consisted in the realization of a series of conferences given by me to
a group of Interior Ministry's officials. In the first lecture I presented a serie of main works of the
Political Art's history and after we did a critical reading exercises using works of my authorship.
The project generated a debate about self-censorship with the own responsibles of censorship, while
the role that should assume the Interior Ministry and cultural institutions about political art in Cuba
were rethought .
Installation view.
Frames.
CAPITAL=CULTURE, 2015
Action-Installation
New Cuban stock market
12 th Havana biennale
Dimensions variable
The economic openings that the Government of Cuba recently did, make us wander among multiple
future possibilities and culture is not exempt. The project reverses the premise Culture = Capital using
art to encourage the investment of foreigner capital to the local cultural sector. Capital = Culture
takes advantage of the excitement generated by the Havana Biennial and the flow of foreign visitors,
to parasite it. As a pilot test, uses the mechanisms of traditional stock market, allowing that private
cultural businesses receive funding and the contemporary art public has been transformed into its
investors and shareholders.
Detail.
Installation view.
DEGENERATED POLITICAL ART, 2014
Action-Installation
Company in a tax haven
Dimensions variable
Degenerated Political Art is a work by Núria Güell and Levi Orta in which the artists have used the
designated artistic production budget in order to create a society in a tax haven. We have been
advised by specialists of the renowned finance school ESADE, from where it has been consulted the
three latest detour of public funds by Catalan politicians cases. The company Orta & Güell
Contemporary Art S.A allows us to evade all the taxes related to our profits as well in Spain as in a
global level, taking advantage of the jurisdiction of the country where the subsidiary is.
Installation view.
stocks.
REFLECTIONS ABOUT A SOUVENIR, 2012
Action-Installation
Souverir of Berlin Wall
Dimensions variable
I brought from Germany a fragment of the Berlin Wall as a souvenir I bought a state facility, the cost
was 4, 99 euros for a piece measuring 3x2 cm. The average wall 3m high by about 0.70 m wide and
extended across all of Berlin, I asked myself how much money could make the German state of the
wall in a clear strategy to monetize the ideology of the past.
The installation consists of a mathematical calculation of the monetary capital that can be drawn from
the Berlin Wall, and the integration of these souvenirs on the wall of the gallery.
Detail.
Installation view.
HONOUR WITHOUT COURAGE, 2013
Action-Installation
Photographs, video, application form, costume.
Dimensions variable
In Quebec, 85% of the population rejects the monarchy as a model of representation for Canada; the
monarchy justifies itself as a cultural tradition of the country. I am interested in linking the concepts
of “represe tatio i art a d “represe tatio i politi s, triggeri g a perversio of oth. The proje t
uses a fictional event where I save the life of a woman disguised as Queen Elizabeth II in order to
apply for the “Star of Courage , a de oratio a arded y the represe tative of the o ar hy i
Canada by order of the Queen.
The whole application process, the proofs of the heroic action, and the expected granting of the
medal are part of the project. It is one representation that meets another, the realities of art and
politics dissolving into each other and becoming accomplices.
Photograph taken during the meeting with the Governor General of Canada, The Right
Honourable Michaëlle Jean; on the occasion of my application to the "Star of Courage.".
(Detail) False rescue
6 analog slides, 50x50mm
DAY OFF, 2010-2013
Video
miniDV, NTSC, Color, 16:9, sound out
20:02 min. loop
Days Off draws a connection between the wave of social demonstrations that has been sweeping the
world in recent years, the political regime in Cuba and his own way of life; as he mixes himself a Cuba
Librecocktail, the names of cities around the world where anti-government demonstrations took
place between 2010 and 2012 appear on the screen with the date. The name of the work suggests
that the artist mixes himself a cocktail each time such a demonstration takes place. The everyday
actions of mixing and sipping a drink become an act of solidarity with the global demonstrations, and
at the same time an act of protest against the regime in Cuba that prohibits such demonstrations.
Orta’s passivity and relaxation as he leisurely savors his drink, and the tension between the name of
the o ktail, “Cu a Libre [Free Cu a], a d the a e of the ork, Dias Libre [lit. Free Days], stand in
stark contrast to the urgency that motivates millions to go out and demonstrate against their
governments. The simple action becomes an act of protest.
Frame of video.
Frame of video.
LEVI ORTA
Havana, Cuba; 1984.
Lives between Havana, Barcelona and Beirut.
E-mail: [email protected]
Web: https://www.ortalevi.blogspot.com
Skype: leviorta
+34 674701809
+53 52749532
ESTUDIOS | STUDIES
Currently
HWP-Ashkal Alwan, Beirut, Lebanon.
2012
SOMA, MexicoDF, Mexico.
2005-2010
Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana, Cuba.
2007-2009
Cátedra Arte de Conducta, directed by Tania Bruguera, ISA, Havana, Cuba.
1999-2003
Academia de Bellas Artes "Sa Aleja dro“ ,Havana, Cuba.
RESIDENCIAS | RESIDENCES
2015
FLACC. Workplace for Visual Artists. Genk, Belgium.
2013
T.R.I.B.E., MoTA Museum of Transitory Art, Nicosia.
Fonderie Darling, Montreal, Canada.
EXPOSICIONES INDIVIDUALES | SOLO SHOWS
2015
Gozando mientras trato de entender algo de política, Casal Solleric, Palma, Spain.
2013
You and whose army, GalerijaMiroslav Kraljvić, Zagreb, Croatia. (with Núria Güell)
Arte, relajo y resistencia, Servando Art Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
Honour without courage, Fonderie Darling, Montreal, Canada.
Cualquier semejanza..., Salle Zero, Havana, Cuba. (with Núria Güell)
2012
Aplicación Moral Desplazada #1: Crecimiento Exponencial. Sant Andreu Contemporani, Barcelona,
Spain. (with Núria Güell)
2009
Maneras de interpretar el poder, Salle Zero, Havana, Cuba.
2007
Inventario 03, Ludwig Foundation of Cuba. (with Frank Mujica)
EXPOSICIONES COLECTIVAS | GROUP SHOWS
2016
Biennal d’Art d’A posta. Lo Pati, Amposta, Spain.
Proyecto John Rambo. ADN Platform, Barcelona, Spain.
The Soul Of Money. DOX - Centre for contemporary art, Praga, Czech Republic.
La historia se repite más de dos veces. Sant Andreu Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain.
El teorema de Maslow Nº2.0.Galeria Sicart, Barcelona Spain.
2015
Quince planes terroristas. Ágora Andrés Benitez-Sant Andreu Contemporani, Barcelona, Spain.
Grafización. Espacio Trapezio, Madrid, Spain.
Entre el uno y el dos. El Apartamento, Havana, Cuba.
TRANSLOCATIONS. Project Observatory. Arts Santa Mònica, Barcelona, Spain
VII Bienal de Arte Contemporáneo de Jafre. Girona, Spain.
Gran Angular. Fabra i Coats, Barcelona, Spain.
Premi de Pintura Internacional Guasch Coranty. Tecla Sala, Barcelona, Spain.
Entre, dentro, fuera / Between, inside, outside. Pabellon Cuba, 12 Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba.
Uno para unos, unos para uno. Miramar Trade Center, Havana Cuba.
Karaoke. Proyecto El Apartamento, Havana Cuba.
2009Deriva2013. Centro Cultural Padre Félix Varela, Havana, Cuba.
De Facto. XOHO, Havana, Cuba.
Art Present: Mapping Space That Could Return to Earth Again. Fabrica de Arte Cubano, Havana, Cuba.
Límites Nómadas. Biennial of the Frontiers, Temaulipas, Mexico.
2014
WE ArE HERE BeCAUSE YOU were/ARE (t)HERE. Studio Das Weisse Haus. Vienna, Austria.
Really Useful Knowledge. Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid. Spain.
6º Salón de Arte Cubano Contemporáneo, CDAV, Havana, Cuba.
XIV Concurso Internacional Encuentros de ArteContemporáneo (EAC-2014), Instituto Alicantino de
Cultura Juan Gil-Albert, Alicante, Spain.
Monte de Estépar, Espacio Tangente, Burgos, Spain.
Rodando se encuentran, Museum of Urbanism, Shangai, China.
El text: Principis i sortides, Fábrica Fabra i Coats, Barcelona, Spain.
Pan y circo, Instituto Superior de Arte, Havana, Cuba.
Cómplices y testigos, ADNgallery (LOOP Festival), Barcelona, Spain.
Lo que sucede conviene, Servando Art Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
Sistema de Vigilancia y Control a los poderes, Estació Creativa, Tarragona, Spain.
2013
Beschwerden erwünscht, D21 Kunstraum, Leipzig, Germany.
Statement, Pabellón Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
Cuban Virtuality, Tufts University Art Gallery, Medford, EEUU.
Micro Acciones de Emergencia, AdnPlatform, Barcelona, Spain.
Ante nuestros ojos, Avelino Salas Studio, Loop 2013, Barcelona.
Open Score, Contemporary Art Museum, Florida, EEUU.
2012
Gulliver contemporary cuban art, Freies Museum, Berlin, Germany.
A part, Centro Cultural La Mercé, Girona, Spain.
AMD Crecimiento Exponencial, Centro Miquel Casablancas, Barcelona, Spain.
Our Work is Never Over, PhotoEspaña, Matadero, Madrid.
Open score, Centro Hispanoamericano de Cultura, 11 Havana Biennial.
HavanaOpen House, Galería Servando, 11 Havana Biennial.
Arte no es Fácil, LinksHall, Chicago, EEUU.
2011
Menú, FelipaManuela, Madrid, Spain.
Festival Internacional de Video Arte de Camagüey, Camagüey, Cuba.
How to Work (More for) Less, Kunsthalle, Basel, Switzerland.
Proyecto Circo, Mercosul Biennial, Rio grande do sul, Brasil.
8 edición Proyecto Circo- II Muestra de Videocreación España-Suiza-Cuba, Centro de Arte
Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam, Havana.
Torbellino II, Havana Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
Spray, Kokerei Hansa Museum, Dortmund, Germany.
EXPLUM 2011, Internatinal Festival of Contemporary Art, Puerto Lumbreras, Spain.
2010
Nómadas del siglo XXI, Centre Cívic Barceloneta, Barcelona, Spain.
TOUCHED, Liverpool Biennial, Liverpool, UK.
El extremo de la bala, a decade of Cuban art, Pabellón Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
Utropicos, XXXI Pontevedra Biennial, Galicia, Spain.
XXIII Salón de la Ciudad, CPAPD, Cuba.
2009
XX años no es nada, CDAV, Havana, Cuba.
Per diem, Betonsalon, Paris, France.
Factoría Habana, 10 Havana Biennial, La Factoría, Cuba.
Estado de excepción, 10 Havana Biennial, Havana Gallery, Cuba.
Eighth Festival of New Filmmakers, ICAIC, Havana, Cuba.
V Contemporary Cuban Art, CDAV, Cuba.
PREMIOS | AWARDS
2015
Premio Maretti, Cuba-Italy.
Becas de Artes Plásticas de la Fundación Botín, Spain.
2014
Premi Ciutat de Palma "Antoni Gelabert" d'Arts Visuals, Casal Solleric, Palma, Spain.
VI Premio Internacional de Arte, Fundación Maria José Jové, Coruña, Spain.
2011
Estudio 21, CDAV, Havana, Cuba.
2010
Winner of Despacio open call, San José, Costa Rica.
Mention of Salón de la Ciudad, Luz y Oficios, Havana, Cuba.