ABSTRACT
Espacio Aglutinador, Havana, CubaPhoto courtesy of Sandra CeballosIn 1990, young Cuban artist Angel Delgado decided to make a performative statementat an opening at the Center for Development of the Visual Arts in Havana-he defecated in public on top of a copy of Granma, the Cuban Communist Party’s dailynewspaper, literally acting out a vulgar Cuban expression “Me cago en eso” (I shit onthis), which means that one doesn’t give a damn. This provocative act could be interpreted as a comment of the excessive rigidity of Cuban cultural institutions at thetime, on the state of Cuban art, or on the contents of the newspaper. For havingdeposited his scatological sculpture in the gallery, Delgado was charged with publicscandal and imprisoned for six months. His excrement was left in the gallery until theday after his arrest so it could serve as proof of the “crime.” In 1996, Angel Delgadoexhibited the artefacts from his prison experience at El Espacio Aglutinador in Havana,a gallery located in the home of artists Sandra Ceballos and Ezequiel Suarez.
