The exhibition
Invention born of scarcity
Some 45 to 50 objects, photographs and videos gathered on trips across Cuba: a Soviet washing-machine motor turned into a lawnmower, improvised electric water heaters, cars kept running decades past their parts supply. Each shows a solution built from whatever was at hand, especially after the economic collapse of the 1990s.
The exhibition was the centerpiece of Bulla Cubana 2019, a Gainesville-wide program of Cuban art and culture. Lavoy's production company, Next Art Project, also made the short film Cuban Ingenuity for the museum.
“It’s kind of a mindset. You just grow up with that.”
— Jorge Lavoy, Radio Cade, March 2019