Exhibition in Cuba

 The beginning:

When I arrived to the Faculty of Architecture a few days after I arrived in Cuba, both the Dean and the teachers welcomed me with open arms and showed me where they thought the exhibition could be.

The place needed painting and some of the windows had to be sealed, but apart from that the room was great. So, that same day we started planning where to hang the material I had taken with me.

 (photo: Michele R. Widerøe)

Because Sami Rintala teaches and works closely with his students I wanted to include local architecture students in the exhibition somehow. One of the teachers suggested that the students could design a “Vara en Tierra” (this is a typical Cuban small hut to take shelter during hurricanes). The idea was not to build a traditional one, but one with a new interpretation, a new concept….

 

 Setting up the exhibition:  

Two days later, the room was ready and the students had designed a new “Vara en Tierra”, unfortunately they did not have the materials to build it, nor the time to find materials, but they tried anyway. Their concept was to show in a computer inside the hut what they had planed to build. 

 (photo: Michele R. Widerøe)

With the help of the teachers, students and my family we set up the exhibition in a couple of hours and we finished just when people started arriving.

 (photo: Michele R. Widerøe)

 The opening:

The Dean of the Faculty, Dr. Jorge Peña Díaz, and the Vice-dean Lic. Lourdes Rodrigues officially opened the exhibition. Then it was my turn to say some words about Rintalas work. Two well know young cuban actors (Gabriella Griffith and Carlos Alejandro Halley) held a performance where they at the end made a bridge with their arms for people to enter the exhibition.

 (photo: Michele R. Widerøe)

 Participation:

Over 50 persons participated in the exhibition among them representatives from the Foreing Affairs Department of the CUJAE, students, teachers and others.

(photo: Michele R. Widerøe)

 Impact:

I am happy with the impact that exhibition had on the faculty, the participants signed a book and gave compliments to all of us for the exhibition and stated their satisfaction and hopes for a new exhibition in the near future. I have also received some letters of exposure assessment from the university.

(photo: Michele R. Widerøe)

 Future plans:

Sami Rintala and I are planning to set up a workshop in Cuba where Rintala and his students from NTNU will conduct a two week stay, work and cooperation with the students of the Faculty of Architecture in Havanna.