Manuel Alvarez Bravo (1902-2002)

The Cuban artist and political activist made the publication’s list of 100 Most Influential People in 2021. He is described by fellow artist-activist Ai Weiwei ‘as a symbol of and a leader’ within Cuba’s anti-government San Isidro movement.

A new €2M maternity and pediatric hospital in Tambacounda, Senegal, is opening after the foundation’s director confronted himself with the privilege of the art world. The building is influenced by “’Albersian’ thinking”, with white wooden doors based on an Anni Albers’ Bauhaus design. (The Art Newspaper)

35 artists, writers and activists signed the letter, addressed to the Cuban President, including John Akomfrah and Carrie Mae Weems. The artist has been in police custody at a Havana hospital for over three weeks after being forcibly hospitalized during a hunger strike protesting artistic repression. (Hyperallergic)

Cameron Granger, Jacob Mason-Macklin, and Qualeasha Wodd will take part in the 2021-22 cycle of the prestigious artist-in-residence program. The New York museum has a proven track record of bringing African and Afro-Latinx artists to renown, including the likes of Candida Alvarez and Jordan Casteel.

Tania Bruguera had been pressed to leave the island by the repressive Cuban government. She will now take a job as a senior lecturer at Harvard University in exchange for the release of political prisoners, including artists Hamlet Lavastida and Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, both imprisoned for dissent.  (HA)

Rapper Maykel Castillo (a.k.a. “Osorbo”) and dissident visual artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara received 9 years “for attacks and defamation against the country’s institutions” and 5 years “for insulting national symbols” respectively, AP reports. Human rights groups have condemned the sentences.

In a sale, in Monterey, this past weekend, a 1955 Ferrari 410 Spider by Scaglietti fetched a stunning $22,005,000, which includes a buyer’s premium. The “largely original” car has a significant provenance, having been driven by Juan Manuel Fangio, Carroll Shelby and Phil Hill, among other legendary drivers. (Hemmings)

Cuban artist Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and rapper Maykel Castillo Pérez will apparently stand trial next week. A member of the anti-censorship San Isidro Movement, Otero Alcántara was arrested last July amid anti-government demonstrations. He could face 7 years in prison. Castillo Pérez could face 10 years. (ARTnews)

Last month Amnesty International called for "prisoners of conscience" to be released, referring to Hamlet Lavastida, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and other artists currently imprisoned. Cultural leaders and artists have now called for the boycott of November’s “Future and Contemporaneity” Biennial. (TAN)

"Choreographies of the Impossible" will take place from September to December 2023 in the main Brazilian metropolis. A text published by the curatorial team, which is composed of Hélio Menezes, Grada Kilomba, Diane Lima and Manuel Borja-Villel, specifies its conceptual outlines and commitments.