Levi Orta

Havana, Cuba, 1984

I investigate the creative component within the political, focusing on the inaccuracies of the art-politics border. I reproduce mechanisms, strategies and behaviors of political-artistic situations that have been archived, thus highlighting its most subversive nuance; always from a cynical stance that attacks the hegemonic. This self-constructed space of creation is built as a platform of maximum freedom in which I can test ways to reverse power relations using the cracks in the structure to parody restrictions, rules and protocols. Camouflage, instrumentalization, appropriation, copying, editing, archiving, could be the terms that would describe the different processes I use to alter power and bring it to the permeable terrain of art. Under an apparent naivety, the projects show the viewer scandalous issues that are deciphered under a codifying acid.

curriculum

studies

2015-2016
HWP-Ashkal Alwan. Beirut, Lebanon.
2012
SOMA. Mexico City, Mexico.
2010
Higher Institute of Art (ISA). Havana, Cuba.
2009
Art of Behavior Chair, directed by Tania Bruguera, Higher Institute of Art (ISA). Havana, Cuba.
2003
San Alejandro Academy of Fine Arts. Havana, Cuba.

personal exhibitions

2018
Levi Orta: chamber painter, copyist and friend of the powerful, The Apartment. Havana, Cuba.
2017
I think I talk a lot of shit. Form, Politics and Jet LagCenter for the Development of Visual Arts (CDAV). Havana, Cuba.
Am I making right-wing political art? Notes on the formSicart Gallery. Barcelona, Spain.
2015
Enjoying myself while trying to understand some politicsCasal Solleric. Palma, Spain.
2013
You and whose armyGalerija Miroslav Kraljvić. Zagreb, Croatia.
Art, relaxation and resistanceServando Gallery. Havana, Cuba.
Honor without courageFonderie Darling. Montreal, Canada.
Any resemblance...., Salle Zero. Havana, Cuba.
2012
Displaced Moral Application #1: Exponential GrowthSant Andreu Contemporani. Barcelona, Spain.
2009 
Ways of interpreting powerSalle Zero. Havana, Cuba.
2007
InventoryLudwig Foundation of Cuba. Havana, Cuba.

collective exhibitions

2018
Another sunrise in the tropics-Contemporary Cuban Artistic practices. RBH, Berlin, Germany
Them and us, Es Baluard, Mallorca, Spain.
The Aesthetics of a Property Map, Syria (Part I), Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art. Uk.
At the end of all human dreams there is nothing but dust, ADN Gallery. Barcelona, Spain.
Moments of clarity, Center for the Development of Visual Arts (CDAV). Havana, Cuba.
2017
Watchtower, Taller Gorría-El Apartamento Gallery. Havana, Cuba.
HopeESMoA. California, United States.
Healing HistoryCuban Art Factory. Havana, Cuba.
Fluc. Vienna, Austria.
100 years of the October Revolution. Visions from today's artOCCC. Valencia, Spain.
IX Biennald'Art de Girona. Girona, Spain.
Biennalde Valls-Premi Guasch Coranty. Spain.
The Revolution is a fiction and vice versa.EspaiBarrade Ferro, EINA. Barcelona, Spain.
VII Contemporary Cuban Art Salon, Center for the Development of Visual Arts (CDAV). Havana, Cuba.
SWAB, Barcelona Contemporary Art Fair. Barcelona, Spain.
RequiemLa Trastera. Tarragona, Spain.
Archive collectionNational Museum of Fine Arts. Havana, Cuba. Itineraries XXIIIBotín Foundation, Santander, Spain.
2016
Anthropologies. Thinking Christmas from AmericaCajasol Foundation. Seville, Spain.
Exposure 8: metabolismBeirut Art Center. Beirut, Lebanon.
KrisisBonington Gallery. London, United Kingdom.
XIV Gas Natural Fenosa Art ExhibitionMuseum of Contemporary Art Gas Natural Fenosa (MAC). Coruña, Spain.
Brief EpisodesSeoane Foundation. Coruña, Spain.
Mashrou Proletkult, AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery. Beirut, Lebanon.
Open StudioAshkal Alwan HWP. Beirut, Lebanon. The Biennale de Paris in Beirut. Beirut, Lebanon.
Biennial of Art of AmpostaLo Pati. Amposta, Spain.
John Rambo ProjectADN Platform. Barcelona, Spain.
The Soul Of MoneyDOX - Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague, Czech Republic.
History repeats itself more than twiceSant Andreu Contemporani. Barcelona, Spain.
Maslow's theorem No2.0, Sicart Gallery. Barcelona, Spain.
2015
Fifteen terrorist plansAgora Andrés Benitez-Sant Andreu Contemporani. Barcelona, Spain.
GraphingEspacio Trapezio. Madrid, Spain.
Entre el uno y el dos. The Apartment. Havana, Cuba.
TRANSLOCATIONS. Project ObservatoryArts Santa Monica, Barcelona, Spain.
VII Jafre Contemporary Art Biennial. Girona, Spain.
Wide AngleFabra i Coats. Barcelona, Spain.
Guasch Coranty International Painting AwardTecla Sala. Barcelona, Spain.
In, in, out. XII Havana Biennial, Cuba Pavilion. Havana, Cuba.
One for one, one for oneMiramar Trade Center. Havana, Cuba.
Karaoke. XII Havana Biennial, The Apartment. Havana, Cuba.
2009 Drift 2013Father Felix Varela Cultural Center. Havana, Cuba.
De Facto, XOHO. Havana, Cuba.
Art Present: Mapping Space That Could Return to Earth AgainCuban Art Factory (FAC), Havana, Cuba.
Nomadic BoundariesBiennial of the Borders. Tamaulipas, Mexico.
2014
WE ArE HERE BeCAUSE YOU were/ARE (t)HERE, Studio Das Weisse Haus, Vienna, Austria.
Really Useful KnowledgeMuseo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Madrid, Spain.
VI Contemporary Cuban Art SalonCenter for the Development of Visual Arts (CDAV). Havana, Cuba.
XIV International Contemporary Art Encounters Competition (EAC-2014), Juan Gil-Albert Institute of Culture of Alicante. Alicante, Spain.
Estépar MountainEspacio Tangente. Burgos, Spain.
Rolling areMuseum of Urbanism. Shanghai, China.
The text: Principis i sortidesFabra i Coats Factory. Barcelona, Spain.
Bread and circusesHigher Institute of Art (ISA). Havana, Cuba.
Accomplices and witnesses, LOOP Festival (ADN Gallery). Barcelona, Spain.
VI International Art PrizeMaria José Jové Foundation. La Coruña, Spain.
Ciutat de Palma "Antoni Gelabert" Visual Arts AwardCasal Solleric. Palma, Spain.
What happens is convenientServando Gallery. Havana, Cuba.
Surveillance and Control System for the PowersEstació Creativa. Tarragona, Spain.
2013 
Beschwerden erwünschtD21 Kunstraum. Leipzig, Germany.
StatementCuba Pavilion. Havana, Cuba.
Cuban Virtuality, Tufts University Art Gallery. Medford, USA.
Emergency Micro ActionsAdn Platform. Barcelona, Spain.
Before our eyesLoop 2013 (Avelino Salas Studio). Barcelona, Spain.
Time/ResistanceIsraeli Centre for Digital Art, Holon, Israel.
Open ScoreContemporary Art Museum. Florida, USA.
2012 
Gulliver Contemporary Cuban Art, Freies Museum. Berlin, Germany.
A partLa Mercé Cultural Center. Girona, Spain.
AMD Exponential GrowthMiquel Casablancas Center. Barcelona, Spain.
Our Work is Never Over, Photo España, Matadero. Madrid, Spain.
Open score. XI Havana Biennial. Havana, Cuba.
Havana Open House. Collateral to the XI Havana Biennial. Havana, Cuba.
Art is not easyLinksHall. Chicago, USA.
2011 
MenuFelipa Manuela. Madrid, Spain.
Camagüey International Video Art Festival. Camagüey, Cuba.
How to Work (More for) LessKunsthalle. Basel, Switzerland.
Circus ProjectMercosur Biennial. Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.
VIII Edition Circus ProjectII Muestra de Videocreación España-Suiza-Cuba, Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Wifredo Lam. Havana, Cuba.
Whirlwind IIHabana Gallery. Havana, Cuba.
SprayKokerei Hansa Museum. Dortmund, Germany.
EXPLUM 2011, International Festival of Contemporary ArtPuerto Lumbreras, Spain.
2010 
Nomads of the 21st centuryCentre Cívic Barceloneta. Barcelona, Spain.
TOUCHEDLiverpool Biennial. Liverpool, United Kingdom.
The end of the bulletA Decade of Cuban Art, Pabellón Cuba. Havana, Cuba.
Utropicos, XXXI Pontevedra Biennial. Galicia, Spain.
2009 
XX years is nothingCenter for the Development of Visual Arts (CDAV). Havana, Cuba.
Per diemBetonsalon. Paris, France.
State of emergency. X Havana Biennial, Habana Gallery. Havana, Cuba.
VIII New Directors FestivalICAIC. Havana, Cuba.
V Salon of Contemporary Cuban ArtCenter for the Development of Visual Arts (CDAV). Havana, Cuba.

works

Sketches-Details.
From the series "Political Creation" (Detail), 2018.
Oil on canvas