Ernesto Cardenal / Solentiname / Background and description

Solentiname

Ernesto Cardenal

SOLENTINAME

Background and description 

The community of Solentiname was founded in 1966 on the island of Mancarrón by the poet, priest and revolutionary Ernesto Cardenal and two colleagues from the seminary in La Ceja (Colombia), together with a group of young farmers and local families. A spiritual, political and artistic movement arose from this experience, based on a shared commitment towards social change in Nicaragua during the years of the Somoza dictatorship -- these ideas have characterised art practices on the islands to date. Following an alternative route, we could go back to pre-Hispanic times (given the great number of archaeological sites with refined ceramic and lithic remains) to affirm that art has been a constant presence in the life of the inhabitants of the archipelago, also known as "the islands of art". (*These details are meant to inform those interested in the residency about the context with which they will interact. However, should the visiting residents so wish, they can propose a project completely unrelated to these experiences).

Mano Negra

Sueño de Solentiname

  In what concerns the environment, Solentiname is located in one of the areas with the most diverse and rich terrestrial and lacustrine ecosystems in Nicaragua and Central America, and has been declared a "National Monument" by the Nicaraguan State (1990) and "Biosphere Reserve" by the UNESCO (2003).

  The community of Solentiname thrived for more than eleven years until it was destroyed by the National Guard. The majority of its members joined the struggle against Somoza and participated in the attack of the Guard's barracks in San Carlos, in October 1978. This was one of the first instances from the insurrection that would overthrow the dictator on July 19, 1979. Three young members of the community died during this final offensive: Elvis Chavarría, Felipe Peña and Donald Guevara.

Solentiname

  The community became a point of reference for the arts but also for Nicaraguan politics, and a beacon of Liberation Theology. This religious and political movement emerged in South America during the sixties with a perspective on theology as arising from the suffering and everyday reality of the people, adopting a redeeming and martyred Jesus, who in the case of Nicaragua was also a guerrilla in struggle against the dictatorship. Writing in 1986, Salman Rushdie would respond to the paintings from Solentiname and specifically to Gloria Guevara's painting "Christ the guerilla" (1975): ‘Christ-figure who wore, instead of a loincloth and a crown of thorns, a pair of jeans and a denim shirt. The picture explained a good deal. The religion of those who lived under the volcanoes of Central America had always had much to do with martyrdom, with the dead; and in Nicaragua many, many people found their way to revolution through religion’.

  The decade of the sixties impacted an entire generation in the Western world as well as in Latin America (in fact, it is still a reference to this day); the emergence of countercultural movements (some subversive) brought to light repressed life expectations and a search for alternatives to those offered by capitalist countries and dictatorships. Many people, especially young people, initiated experimental movements with liberating visions of the world. In this sense the community of Solentiname fits perfectly into the global spirit of that time, despite having been established in such a remote and isolated place. Some have mistakenly identified Solentiname with hippy culture, and although slogans such as ¨Peace and love¨ and ¨War is over -if you want it-¨ were common, the ethos was not that of ¨Sex, drugs and rock and roll¨. Some Spanish-speaking rock bands have mentioned Solentiname and Cardenal in their songs, such is the case of Mano Negra / Manú Chao (Spain-France) with "Dream of Solentiname" and the Fabulous Cadillacs (Argentina) with "Zero Hour".

  Due to its history, Solentiname has been a place of pilgrimage for artists, curators, writers, art enthusiasts and internationalists. This residency project seeks to revive this sentiment. Amongst the most well-known visitors one may count: Julio Cortázar (Argentine writer, author of "Apocalypse in Solentiname"), José Gómez Sicre (Cuban curator, organised an exhibition of paintings from Solentiname at the Pan American Union in Washington), Susan Meiselas (American photographer), Roger Pérez de la Rocha (Nicaraguan painter, helped paint the murals of the church of Nuestra Señora de Solentiname and advised painters from the islands), Juan Downey (Chilean video artist), Pablo León de la Barra (Mexican curator -Guggenheim UBS Map-, organised the exhibition "Dream of Solentiname" at NYU in New York and at the Jumex Museum in Mexico City), Robert Prig-Mill (British academic), Larry Towell (Canadian photographer, member of Magnum Photos), Gloria Guardia (Panamanian writer, author of "With Ernesto Cardenal" ), Sandra Eleta (Panamanian photographer, illustrated Guardia's book), Sergio Ramírez (Nicaraguan writer), Antidio Cabal (Spanish poet), Ali Primera (Venezuelan singer), Daniel Viglietti (Uruguayan singer-songwriter), John Lyons (British linguist), Carlos Mejía Godoy (Nicaraguan musician, composed his famous Peasant Mass in Solentiname), James Harithas (American curator), Thiago de Mello (Brazilian poet), Pablo Antonio Cuadra (Nicaraguan writer), Cintio Vitier (Cuban writer), Luis Rosales (Spanish poet), Margaret Randall (American writer).

  "The correspondence between Ernesto Cardenal and his fellow priest Thomas Merton documents the founding ideas of Solentiname as a social and artistic utopia built around the principles of art, liberation theology and social justice. Painting became a form of political expression, economic support and lifestyle for the inhabitants of the archipelago. The residents of the communal society also wrote poetry, created ceramics, crafts and works in wood, leather, copper, bronze and silver. Although there was no formal training, the painter Roger Pérez de la Rocha spent some time working in Solentiname and supported the development of his distinctive style of painting. [The sculptures developed by Cardenal are inspired by the nature and wildlife of the islands and reflect the ideals of himself living in the midst of nature, in harmony with "paradise"]. (taken from the text of the exhibition "Dream of Solentiname" 80WSE Gallery NYU, New York, 2017 / curated by Pablo León de la Barra).

  With the overthrow of the Somoza dictatorship, the National Reconstruction Government of Nicaragua was formed and Cardinal was invited to head the Ministry of Culture. Solentiname was consolidated as a cultural, political and theological reference but, although its facilities were rebuilt a few months after the triumph, the community was not constituted again. Today, the inhabitants of Solentiname continue to paint and produce animal carvings in balsa wood. The islands always attract travelers and artists who seek an inspiring retreat.

  The doctor in art history Ileana Selejan writes about “a reading of the site [of Solentiname] as an experiment in culture and society, one that provided an important model for social revolution and emancipation through art and literature in Nicaragua in the years following the Sandinista Revolution. Within the coordinates of greater post-war cultures of dissent, Solentiname must be seen in dialogue with analogous progressive utopian projects from the 1960s and 1970s, particularly those that incorporated the production of art as a necessary component in their proposed ecologies of change. As Jean Franco (2002, 113) has noted: ‘Solentiname was intended as the culmination of the historical avant-garde’s dream of fusing art and everyday life, while reflecting at the same time liberation theology’s view of the poor as the agents of history’. […] Expressed through the architecture and art made in Solentiname during this period, the impact of Cardenal’s revolutionary poetics and spiritual philosophy reveals itself forcefully. While one could argue that Cardenal’s vision of the islands was indeed ‘romantic’, it nonetheless reflected the broader revolutionary and social convictions of its moment. The importance of the artefacts produced on the islands (and here I include The Gospel in Solentiname and Cardenal’s literary output) resides precisely in their contemporaneous ‘constructedness’, rather than in a search for authenticity.

RESIDENCIA EN SOLENTINAME