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Address:
San Ignacio 22, esquina a Empedrado
Plaza de la Catedral
La Habana Vieja / Cuba
Email: secretaria@wlam.cult.cu
Website: www.bienalhabana.cult.cu
The Wifredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art is a cultural institution dedicated to the study, research and promotion of contemporary visual arts from developing countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Caribbean.
It was founded in 1983 as an homage to Wifredo Lam, an important Cuban artist from this century. His artwork summarizes, in an outstanding synthesis, the Third World´s pursuit for universality based on the projection of its roots and visual codes.
The Center is housed in an eighteenth-century building which was formerly the residence of the Counts of Peñalver´. It is located at the corner of Empedrado and San Ignacio streets, Cathedral Square in Old Havana, an historical area declared World Heritage by Unesco. The building has spacious exhibition rooms, a library, a video library and areas for other cultural activities.
An extensive and valuable collection of contemporary visual artworks allows the Center to exhibit regularly in Cuba and abroad, the work of artists from different regions.
The Havana Biennial constitutes the Center´s main project. Since the event was first held in 1984, it has become a privileged meeting place for those interested in contemporary art from Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. Thousands of works from artists of these regions have been exhibited. Renowned critics, museum directors, gallerists, editors of art magazines and collectors from all over the world have met in Havana during the biennials to exchange ideas on current issues.
(From a press release, 1997)
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