“There is a growing blindness and deafness in this world of hurry, stress and disconnection of man with himself”, that is why Cuban artist Glenda León invites us to see sounds and hear images through her work ¨ Música de las esferas¨, exposed in the 55th edition of the Venice Biennale, from June 1st to November 24th, 2013.
On several occasions , this young woman has impacted with her art in the act of listening as she considers that it is “a way of returning to the discarded essence of ourselves, of our deepest selves thatis attached to the Universe”. I remember during the 10th Havana Biennial (2008) I had the opportunity to appreciate ¨ Mundo Interpretado¨ , a work of her authorship exposed at the San Carlos de la Cabaña Fortress, where melodies connected to five world religions were played in unison. At that time, Glenda told me: “Actually there are not top or bottom interpretations of the world, they are all the same . With this piece I try to achieve an integration of diverse cultures through the mixture of sounds. ”
It has been some years since that interview in Havana. At this time Glenda has challenged with her artistic proposal to other audiences in Canada, USA, France, Holland, Italy, Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Honduras, in solo and group exhibitions. The channels city receives her now with this sound installation, inspired by the Pythagoras theory, with which she invites us to feel the world and she tells on it: a circular and empty pentagram was superimposed on an image of the solar system. A chord is assigned where there was a planet; a music box was built from the resulting score ” .
Música de las esferas, well guarded by Greek gods, encourages the viewer to “empty himself of thought and ego, to let the sounds, words and other’s presence in . With the excitement still beating, after appreciating her work exhibited in the Archaeological Museum, one of the most emblematic buildings of the San Marcos Plaza, and home of the current edition of the Venice Biennale, Glendaanswers some questions, this time via email.
How was Música de las esferas received in Venice ?
What I enjoyed the most was when people remained immersed in silence, listening and watching my work. Some attempted to leave and then returned. Others told it invited to meditation, and provoked them peace . There were those who could not hear.
Why is music a constant in your work?
One of the things I most enjoyed from very child was improvising movements with the songs that I liked. Years later I started practicing ballet and for a long time I had the goal of being a choreographerand ballerina. Physical conditions helped me a lot in that almost obsession. Then I realized that, at least for me, some things were missing and others were unnecessary in that world. I realized that what attracted me was the idea of making performances using music and the pleasure of listening, that is, the starting point, the essential, was what sounded.
Another interesting element in your work is the relationship with nature. What’ s the reason for it?
The presence of nature in my work comes from my childhood. My parents taught me to notice small insects or wild flowers, and so I did not see them as a little detail in the landscape, but as a world in itself. Moreover, I have always found grandeur in the stars, the sky, and the sea that really calms me.
By observing nature we can learn many things about life and when representing it in my work I try to remember that we are part of it, and it is part of us . There is no division as we learned in school. Even outer space has similarities with our life on Earth. Humans are too disconnected from their environment and it is, above all, because they are disconnected from themselves. In a way my work tries to reconnect or make a reference to it.
You already mentioned your ballet studies, also you were at the Experimental School of Visual Arts, you graduated yourself in Art History at the Havana University and have a Master Degree on Art ofNew Media in Germany. How do these different, but simultaneously related streams, have influenced on your training as an artist?
I think the same that led me to study ballet, that like for following the chords of music with the body, is behind every audiovisual product, with the difference that images are moving now. Even when there is no music in almost any of my videos, some people can notice certain choreography.
The Degree in History of Art gave me essential knowledge for making contemporary art. I think it’s very important to know what happened before for not to repeat it then. There are many artists who work on what others have already done, sometimes up to 60 years earlier. I think we could dispense with tons of catalogs, magazines and cubic kilometers of stagnant creation.
Moreover, at the Experimental School of Visual Arts I learned the basics, the elementary thing in terms of visual production. And well, the Master Degree enriched me a lot, especially in terms of findingpossibilities for solving an idea. All this learning has undoubtedly shaped me as an artist.
From the works you have done, which one has marked you due to its success with the public, critics, etc..?
Mundo Interpretado in Havana Biennial (2008) is one that has gone furthest. It was very well made and had a great public acceptance. However, there is another one that recently beat it, Tiempo Perdido, which I first showed in Chateau des Adhemar , France, and then in Madrid, with Magnan Metz Gallery. It had an incredible media coverage in Spain and every person passing took a photo withhis camera, mobile phone or Ipad. The video Cada Respiro was also in great demand .
You exposed ¨ Escuchando el Silencio en Nueva York¨ (Listening to Silence in New York) in 2012, what was this exhibition about, how it was received?
It was, once again, related to listening, a topic in which, as I said before, I am very interested. I included the pieces Objeto Mágico Encontrado and Escuchando las estrellas ; a series of scores I makeon the basis of photographs, drawings, and smaller objects.
Despite being my first time in New York, it was well received. However, in the case of this work and in that of Venice, there is still too much noise in the heads of people to listen to the Música de las Esferas (Music of the Spheres), or even more, the very silence.
You have had the opportunity of presenting your work in many countries, but you always come back to Cuba to expound your work. Why?
First of all, there are enough people who know my work from the beginning in Cuba. It is very gratifying to see that these people can evaluate it with more tools and through a deeper approach than the one of someone who sees something of mine for the first time. I want to give them the possibility to continue watching this. On the other hand, is a matter of feedback, because I was trained as an artistin Cuba.
