• PARTNERSHIPS

    INSTAR has created alliances with other similarly inclined projects and platforms, enabling it to receive feedback and grow as an interdisciplinary, collaborative space, constantly updated and increasingly effective in terms of solidarity. These are our partner organizations:

    These are our allied projects:

  • 27N


    Because of the growing State harassment towards citizen initiatives that advocate the democratization of the country and as a result of the violent intervention of military forces of state security at the San Isidro Movement headquarters, where 15 citizens and activists were on strike to protest the repression and arbitrary imprisonment of Cuban rapper Denís Solís, a public protest took place in front of the Ministry of Culture on November 27, 2020.

    This event marked a turning point in the commitment of the community of Cuban artists and intellectuals, with the claim, not only against the violations of cultural rights, but also against the absence of social, citizen, and political rights that suffocates citizen participation, leaving it at the mercy of a repressive military mechanism that acts with impunity. Members of INSTAR’s work team, along with other creators, have been a vital part of this ongoing process, as has the institute, as a representative and legitimizing platform of civic resistance for cultural autonomy. INSTAR is currently actively collaborating with the 27N citizen platform.

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  • Documenta 15


    Documenta 15, curated by the ruangrupa collective from Indonesia, invited the Institute to be part of this 100-day event in 2021. This edition is developed under the concept of “lumbung,” an Indonesian word for designating a collectively managed rice barn, where the harvest is stored for the communal good. Lumbung proposes an interdisciplinary and cooperative artistic platform and points to a different cultural model of collaboration, solidarity, and sustainability, both in economic terms and ideas, knowledge, programs and innovation.

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  • Artists at Risk Connection (ARC)


    Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) is a project of PEN America that safeguards the right to freedom of artistic expression around the world, and works to ensure that artists from all disciplines can live and work without fear. With a global network of 800 organizations that provide critical resources for artists and cultural professionals at risk, ARC liaises between threatened artists and the organizations that can support them, while raising awareness of threats to freedom. Since its inception, ARC has supported more than 500 artists from more than 63 countries to receive direct support, such as scholarships and residencies, emergency funds, legal assistance and protection, from partner organizations.

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  • Estudio Bruguera


    The studio of the artist and INSTAR director Tania Bruguera, in addition to being one of INSTAR’s main donors, contributes its network of professional contacts.

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  • CIVICUS


    In 2020 INSTAR became part of the Center for Coexistence Studies of CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. CIVICUS hosts activists and organizations dedicated to strengthening citizen action and civil society around the world. INSTAR and CIVICUS are attuned to their principles and this membership will continue to promote the Institute’s position on artistic freedom and in defense of human rights, as well as the protection of independent civil society in Cuba.

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  • GAPAC


    GAPAC is a civil society organization specialized in analysis, political consulting and training, and citizen advocacy. It has created an alliance with INSTAR to develop studies and evaluations of Cuban civil society, contributing to its educational program and providing professional support to the activists who are part of the Institute's work team. This exchange has strengthened not only the lines of work of both projects, but also their members on a personal and professional level.

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  • Libertad CubaLab
    AC


    Libertad Cuba Lab defines itself as a collaborative group of Cubans who do journalism, art, literature, research, legal analysis, and activism in defense of human rights. Libertad Cuba Lab has worked together with INSTAR founder Tania Bruguera the Coro de Presos Políticos (Chorus of Political Prisoners), an interactive action on social networks to make visible the names of hundreds of people imprisoned for their ideals. Since its creation, it has made human rights violations and arbitrary arrests visible on social networks and through direct advocacy with organizations.

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  • Haus der Kulturen der Welt


    The New Alphabet School is a self-organized collaborative school with the aim of exploring critical and affirmative research practices. For three years, it has functioned as a colloquium to debate and develop new ideas in the fields of the arts, archives, poetry, and activism. In the 2021 edition, the HKW invited INSTAR to lead a session on community-building, opening the discussion on Haus Kulturen der Welt in Berlin. To discuss what really constitutes community and its continuum when social life is predetermined by political ideology, technological surveillance, and state education. How can continuum care and resilience be a communal or even collective practice? How do communities achieve otherness and reciprocity while allowing antagonisms? How can communities defend guaranteed rights despite a reality in which they are violated? Tania Bruguera was invited to speak on art as activism, followed by Chantal Mouffe with a lecture on agonistic public spaces and art practices and Saskia Sassen on cutting through silos of knowledge. Finally, Richard Sennett spoke about Stage and State, which led to the discussion among the four about art and politics, moderated by Juliana Rabelo.

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