“Egocentrismo funerario (Funerary Egocentrism)” by Lázaro Saavedra, 可能 26, 2014

Lázaro Saavedra has consistently used performance art to prioritize the public’s relationship with art over the ownership of art objects. His dark sense of humor is a strategic tool to share critical ideas with broad audiences. Saavedra’s series of drawings “Historias para historiadores (Stories for Historians),” 1989–91 document his own artworks—some of them unrealized due to bureaucratic roadblocks in Cuba. “Egocentrismo funerario (Funerary Egocentrism)” was prohibited by cultural authorities in Havana and is finally realized as part of the exhibition “Permission To Be Global/Prácticas Globales: Latin American Art from the Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection.” The performance first existed as a sketch, depicting a casket in which he intended to lie, paying a sarcastic homage to the “death of the author” (i.e., himself).

This project is made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Generously supported by the MFA Associates/Senior Associates.