ExhibitionOctober 3, 2025
Coco Fusco Presents a Critical Reflection on Art, Dissent
The exhibition I Learned to Swim on Dry Land, by artist Coco Fusco, is currently open to the public at the Museu d'Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) and will remain on view until January 11, 2026. The title, drawn from a line in the 1957 short story Swimming by Cuban writer Virgilio Piñera, introduces an exploration of language, silence, and their roles in confronting structures of power.
The exhibition presents a performative, documentary, and audiovisual journey centered on experiences of dissent within the Cuban context. Through artworks and archival materials, it revisits the trajectories of poets and artists such as María Elena Cruz Varela, Heberto Padilla, Néstor Díaz de Villegas, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and musician Maykel Osorbo — all of whom have faced repression under the regime.
While Cuba remains a central focus, the exhibition also engages with broader themes such as U.S. immigration policy, the rise of the political right, and the enforcement of cultural monocultures. Fusco’s work is supported by archival documents, objects from her performances, and references to her earlier research, including the publications English is Broken Here (1995) and Dangerous Moves: Performance and Politics in Cuba (2015).
The exhibition presents a performative, documentary, and audiovisual journey centered on experiences of dissent within the Cuban context. Through artworks and archival materials, it revisits the trajectories of poets and artists such as María Elena Cruz Varela, Heberto Padilla, Néstor Díaz de Villegas, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, and musician Maykel Osorbo — all of whom have faced repression under the regime.
While Cuba remains a central focus, the exhibition also engages with broader themes such as U.S. immigration policy, the rise of the political right, and the enforcement of cultural monocultures. Fusco’s work is supported by archival documents, objects from her performances, and references to her earlier research, including the publications English is Broken Here (1995) and Dangerous Moves: Performance and Politics in Cuba (2015).
