Three years ago a group of young people got together to publicize contemporary Cuban art. Above all, those who do not find enough promotion in the institutional system of the country. The idea came to life in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19when there was no other scenario for interaction than the house and social networks.
In such a singular context, many creators reinvented themselves and found a channel for their ideas in virtuality.
This is how La Jeringa was born, a project to promote emerging Cuban art that aims to inject knowledge and cultural content to its followers. Naming it was not easy, but the founders found in the polysemic symbol (the syringe, to syringe) the perfect seal.
In a short time, the initiative has managed to jump from virtuality to physical space and produce exhibitions, workshops, concerts and meetings with new and established artists, among other actions, such as the recent presentation of the first edition of the magazine The syringein print version.
syringe for culture
From the beginning, its objective was clear: to promote emerging art, criticism and cultural research, based on the production and management of shows, conferences, events or exhibitions; the edition and publication of publicity materials, magazines, catalogs and other supports; and the production and exhibition of audiovisual materials for promotional, educational and training purposes.
During its first two years (2020 and 2021), La Jeringa kept working virtually. The period served as a space for training, research and consolidation of his purposes. He expanded his relationships and gained an audience on his social networks.
Annette Granda, head of the project, confesses that at first she wanted to create a website to mainly promote the work of her friends. The idea led to the design of a visual identity and the launch of an account on Facebook and Mediumon January 31, 2020. Several of Annette’s friends and collaborators joined this personal project.
They turned it into a laboratory in which the desires and energies of this group that defends the concept of team and collective work are cooked.
The members of La Jeringa come from different branches of knowledge (International Relations, Art History, Psychology, Letters, Audiovisual Communication, etc.), in some cases far from the artistic world. Everyone, whether as creators or as consumers, has affinities with the cultural universe.
Today the project has more than one hundred and fifty collaborators, including artists, designers and writers from various provinces, as well as Cubans residing in Spain and Germany, who contribute by materializing the ideas of the managing core. In other cases, the creators contribute their works so that they can be discussed with other artists on this great online platform., Managed by the La Jeringa team.
For three years, the “syringe” community spread to other social networks: Instagram, Telegram, Twitter and YouTube. In the team there are those who prefer one or the other, and in this diversity they generate content that starts from the same purpose, but with the particularity and language of each platform.
From virtual to face-to-face
In 2022 La Jeringa began to make itself known offline. It took over the organization of events such as exhibitions Chromatherapy and Concordin the cultural center Habana Espacios Creativos.
In addition, they organize La Letra Inyectada, a literary meeting that has convened, in different places of the Cuban capital, intellectuals, poets and writers such as Joaquín Borges Triana, Margarita Mateo, Soleida Ríos, Arturo ArangoAstrid Santana and Leonardo Paduraamong others.
With a diverse audience that goes beyond national borders, La Jeringa not only promotes the art that is made on the island. Disseminates the works of Cuban creators who live outside of Cuba. The project has an inevitable transnational scope.
Its main premise is to disseminate the emerging art and culture of the country, which does not distance it from other referents of universal culture. Hence the approach in their networks to writers such as Jorge Luis Borges, Mario Vargas Llosa, Julio Cortázar and many others; or the so-called “thematic weeks”, dedicated to Argentina, the Caribbean or Jazz, referenced on their platforms.
In an effort to multiply the ways of sharing art, La Jeringa combines texts, music lists, photos and videos in its publications, while covering the largest number of artistic manifestations, especially literature, visual arts and music. music.
Its ambitions are great, as they continue to expand and draw on other similar events and institutions, such as the Faculty of Arts and Letters of the University of Havana, the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry, the Chullima Workshop of the artist Wilfredo Prieto and the Havana Biennial, just to mention a few.
Now they are moved by the desire to become a local development project, a greater goal with which they will be able to gain a presence in the community. They also intend to maintain the same rhythm of their usual activities (literary meetings, dance workshops, movie club) and the regularity of their magazine, at least on the digital stage.
