Carlos Garaicoa : The Point, the Line and the Plan

For its inaugural show East Central gallery presents a thought provoking meditation on the power of architecture by Cuban artist Carlos Garaicoa. Representing buildings such as the Pentagon and Guantanamo Bay this collection of photographs and sculptures seeks to draw parallels between urban decay, social justice and the quest for utopia.

One of Cuba’s leading contemporary artists, Garaicoa was born and still lives in Havana and uses the city’s faded glory as his point of departure. Its once grand and imposing buildings have fallen into irrevocable decay, a tragedy captured in the prints adorning the gallery walls.

The photographs, however, have been transformed by utilising metal and stucco to create something hopeful and dreamlike, reflecting Garaicoa’s determination to find new meanings. Using a laser, he has superimposed grids on the top of images of once palatial buildings, imagining the infinite possibilities for regeneration.

Elsewhere light box installations are used to make subtle, yet profound changes to the disintegrating urban backdrop.  The room is dominated by a huge paper sculpture of a design for a new city, all cut out from a book on architecture. The piece’s delicacy, however, reminds us of the fragility of all human endeavour and thereby the precarious nature of our own lives.

Garaicoa’s visions are juxtaposed with six minute silver models of some of the most iconic buildings representing power and oppression in our modern world. Encased in separate vitrines, we are invited to gaze at intricate renderings of the Pentagon and the prison at Guantanamo Bay.
The dainty form of these sculptures is at odds with the criminal activities that Garaicoa believes Western regimes are responsible for. Resplendent in their silver geometry they are the antithesis of the ruin of Garaicoa’s beloved Havana, yet are emblematic of a distorted utopia – one of decadence and cleverly orchestrated brutality.

The links between social idealism and a bleaker reality are a focal point here. Garaicoa may use images that are familiar to him, but is careful not to limit himself to a mere local discourse. The suggestion is that the degradation inflicted on this city could happen anywhere. Architecture gives us a tangible way to attempt to understand our hopes and desires. It acts as a catalyst for social change and, used carefully, can do great things.

 Garaicoa seems to be gently reminding us, however, that the object itself is insubstantial. It can crumble and fade. It is the ideas, thoughts and values that it contains that are of the real importance. This show bears witness to the ways that these can be used and the repercussions they have.

Alex Hopkins

Carlos Garaicoa, the point, the line and the plan, East Central Gallery, 23 Bateman’s Row, London, EC2A 3HH, until 7 November