AMAR EN LIBERTAD
15ª Bienal de La Habana
During his participation in the 15th Havana Biennial (2024), Marcos Chaves presented a variation of his work Se Amar em Liberdade (2018), in which the circular title phrase follows the curves of a round mirror. In this new iteration, mediated this time by a new language, Spanish, the artist is more synthetic and at the same time, paradoxically, more comprehensive: Amar en Libertad. By removing the reflexive pronoun se, which loses meaning in direct translation from Portuguese to Spanish, the act of loving is generalized. It no longer matters what, to whom or in what way to love, as long as it is in freedom. These nuances were therefore the starting point in the Cuban capital for the artist, who distributed his work printed on holographic stickers and T-shirts to anyone who was interested. Larger versions of the poem were also displayed on reflective fabric banners at the entrance of institutions such as the Fototeca and the Wifredo Lam Contemporary Art Center. The stance taken is therefore expanded by the set of supports present both in public spaces and in the individual (and private) lives of the population, finally provoking considerations about life itself in common.
