Carlos Garaicoa. Fin de silencio (End of Silence)

The contemporary art center Matadero Madrid will present, during the coming days, an exhibition by Cuban artists Carlos Garaicoa (Havana, 1967). The Exhibition, entitled Fin de Silencio (End of Silence), consists of seven tapestries on the floor of what was formerly the refrigerated section of a slaughterhouse. The tapestries represent some of the brands from old shops in Havana with evocative names such as La Lucha (The Struggle), Pensamiento (Thought), Sin Rival o Reina (Neither Rival nor Queen); texts that can be usually be read on the streets of the Caribbean port city, and it is here that Garaicoa intervenes to alter their original meanings. Fin de Silencio belongs to a series of works that Garaicoa began, in 2006, by intervening photographs of signs and floors in Havana, and culminated with the creation of this carpeted space. By deconstructing these existential texts into objects, drawings, photographs, or videos, Garaicoa propose new readings about the city, its forms of government and the possibility of social change. The exhibit will be open to the public at Matadero Madrid from September 25 to November 7, 2010.