b. Havana, Cuba
Lives and works in New York
Grethell Rasua is an interdisciplinary visual artist, educator, and curator. She developed her artistic practice and knowledge of cultural theory in Cuba. The main activities of Rasua art practice are Transforming, Embellishing, and Serving. Her function as an artist is to be a starting point for questioning reality through the concept of beauty. She focuses on working with what is conventionally considered beautiful or ugly and transforms the repulsive into something beautiful, functional, and valuable. She is pursuing an MFA at Columbia University, and working as a Teaching Artist at the Education Department of the Queens Museum.
She studied at the San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Art, Havana (2000-2004), where she learned drawing, sculpture, painting, photography, and jewelry making and majored in printmaking. Then, she attended the University of the Arts – ISA, Havana (2004-2009). Subsequently, she participated in Tania Bruguera's Conduct Workshop (2005-2007). She received a Diploma in humanities from the Piarist Schools of Cuba at the University of Veracruz in 2009. She was a visual arts specialist and curator at The Visual Arts Development Center (2009-2012). Rasua taught at San Alejandro, leading workshops for students' thesis projects and group critiques (2013-2017). She studied at the Center for Continuing & Professional Studies at the Fashion Institute of Technology, New York (2023).
Rasua's works have been presented at the 56th Venice Biennale, at three Havana Biennials (2006, 2009, 2012), at the Mercosur Biennial (2013), and in other spaces such as the Sao Paulo Art Museum, Art Museum of the Americas, MNBA Havana, Ludwig Forum for International Art, Hemispheric Institute of Performance, and the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, among others.
Her works are included in collections, including the Ludwig Forum for International Art, CIFO Art Foundation, Cuban National Museum of Fine Arts, Daros-Latinamerica AG, and Caixa Forum.
She has participated in residencies such as Cuban Artists Fund's Artist-in-residence 2022-NYC, Artist in Residence KulturKontakt, Master Artist-in-Residence, Atlantic Center for the Arts, Intermediate- Minbak, Collateral to IFEMA ARCO, Matadero de Madrid, Triangle Art Trust, and the HIVOS Foundation. She was a two-time finalist in the CINTAS-Knight Foundation Visual Arts Scholarship Contest (2017, 2018). Rasua has lectured at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts, University of Havana, Studio XX in Montreal, and the Documentation Division Lecture Series at the United Nations, among other institutions.
EDUCATION
2023-2025 MFA (expected), Columbia University, New York.
2023 Center for Continuing & Professional Studies, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York.
2004-2009 BFA, HigherInstitute of Art (ISA), Havana, Cuba, summa cum laude, first in class.
2007-2009 Diploma in Humanities, Piarist Schools ofCuba, University of Veracruz, Mexico.
2005-2007 Diploma, Tania Bruguera’s Conduct Workshop, Havana, Cuba.
2000-2004 Diploma, San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts / Major: Printmaking, Havana, Cuba, summa cum laude, first in class.
SOLO EXHIBITION
2022 Open Studio, From Waste to Adornment. The beauty in you / Cuban Artists Fund’s artist-in- residence 2022, Manhattan, New York, US.
2018 Beyond Beauty / Villa Manuela Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
2014 My Business / Esto no es un café Gallery, Callejón del Chorro, Havana, Cuba.
2007 Inventario / V edition, Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
TWO-AND THREE PERSON EXHIBITIONS
2019 On the Altars of Vanity / Dotfiftyone Gallery, Miami, US.
2016 Living with the Past / haaaauch-quer Gallery, Klagenfurt, Austria.
2010 Natural History / CDAV, Havana, Cuba.
2010 Audiovisual Screening Ephemerides: 2008 / Wifredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art (LAM), Havana, Cuba.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023
Film screening of New York Citizen Cinema, Hemispheric Institute, NY, US.
2022
Cuba Introspettiva-Pratiche Intermediali e Videoarte. Flashback Habitat, Ecosystem for Contemporary Cultures Turin, Italy.
2021
Viva la Devolución / Utopía Habana Festival as part of the Mercé Festival / Barcelona, Spain.
De donde crece la palma / Digital space @laperaprojects y @havanaartweekend.
2019
The Last Supper / Faena Festival, Miami Beach, US.
CUBA Introspettiva / La Nuova Pessa Gallery, Rome, Italy.
The Golden Age of Video art in Cuba. Montréal Habana: Contemporary Art Encounters / Quebec Cinematheque, Galerie B-312, Montreal.
Open Studio / Studio Rosell Meseguer, Madrid, Spain.
2018
Divertissement / Collage Havana, Havana, Cuba.
CINTAS Foundation Fellowship Awards Finalists 2018 / Lowe Art Museum, Florida, US.
XXY Humo y espejos / CNAP Art Collection, Alejo Carpentier Hall, Gran Teatro de la Habana, Cuba.
Cubans: Post Truth, Pleasure and Pain / Southeast Center for Contemporary Art SECCA, North Carolina, US.
2017
Historias de sexualidad / Sao Paulo Art Museum, Brasil.
Un ensayo de Colaboración / 7th Contemporary Art Salon / CDAV, Havana, Cuba.
Havana Art Weekend / Fausto Theater / Havana, Cuba.
CINTAS Foundation Fellowship Awards Finalists 2017 / Coral Gables Museum, Florida, US.
Art x Cuba – Contemporary Perspectives since 1989 / Ludwig Forum for International Art, Aachen, Germany.
Mala Yerba, Fotografía Cubana Contemporánea / Gallery ISOLO17, Verona, Italy.
Pollutions, Collective Display of Video Art / Charles Chaplin, ICAIC, Havana, Cuba.
2016
Artists Presentation at the KulturKontakt / Vienna, Austria.
Falling Apart Together / FLUC, Vienna, Austria.
Touch the Reality. Rethinking Keywords of Political Performance / Niederoesterreich Gallery, Vienna, Austria.
Palermo. CUBA: Tatuare la storia / Palermo, Italy.
Surprise / Netwerk – Centro Internacional de Arte Contemporáneo / Belgic.
CUBA: Tatuare la Storia / Padiglione d’Arte Contemporanea – PAC, Milano, Italy.
ART-XIOMAS, CUBAAHORA: The Next Generation / AMA – Art Museum of the Americas, Washington DC, US.
The Flesh of the Gods / Gallery Evolution of the Monumental Callao of Lima, Peru.
The Mother of all Arts / Wifredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art, Havana, Cuba.
2015
Welcome-Goodbye / Torrione Passari Center for Contemporary Art, Molfetta, Italy.
Devenir animal, devenir intense, devenir imperceptible / FAC, Havana, Cuba.
Feminine Voices and Poetics / The Palace of Fine Arts in the Marina District of San Francisco, California, US.
Cuba –Fiction and Fantasy / Casa Daros, Río de Janeiro, Brazil.
Strictly Personal / Embassy of Spain, Havana, Cuba.
2009 DERIVA 2013 / Seminario de San Carlos, Havana, Cuba.
Videoarde. Critical Video in Latin America and the Caribbean / Casa de las Américas de la Habana, Cuba.
The Artist Between Individuality and Context / Pavilion of the Republic of Cuba- 56. International Exhibition. The Venice Biennale, Italy.
2014
Maretti Awards – 2nd Edition / Cuban Art Factory, Havana, Cuba.
Silent Contemplated Variations / National Museum of Fine Arts, Cuban Art Building, Havana, Cuba.
Frontiers in Question I /Artepari –Gallery for Contemporary Art, Graz. haaaauch-quer Gallery, Klagenfurt, Austria.
Video Presentation / MMKK – Museum of Modern Art Carinthia, Klagenfurt, Austria.
Witches, But Also Witches /Project, Aglutinador-Brücke and MAM, Havana, Cuba. xl’2. 6º Contemporary Cuban Art Salon / CDAV, Havana,Cuba.
Manifiesta. Encuentro 2014 / Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics / Centro Phi, Montreal, Canada.
Macha, Varona, Masculina / Studio XX, Montreal, Canada.
The Spaces Between / Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
2013
Waste in Small Charms / Provincial Center of Visual Art and Design Luz y Oficio, Havana, Cuba.
9th Bienal do Mercosul / Porto Alegre, Brasil.
Ellas Crean Festival / Embassy of Spain in Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
Female Contemporary art from Cuba. Femenine Voices / Cara y Cabezas Contemporary Art Gallery, San Francisco, CL. US.
Think, Poetic and Discursive Perspectives in Cuban Contemporary Video Art (1990-2010) / Museum of Contemporary Art-GraphicstudioTampa (USF), US.
Waste in Tiny Pieces / Centro Provincial de Artes Plásticas y Diseño Luz y Oficios, Havana, Cuba.
El ardid de los inocentes / Factory Havana, Cuba.
V International Festival of Video Art in Camagüey / FIVAC, Camagüey, Cuba.
The Force of Delicacy / Goldsmith’s Museum, Havana, Cuba.
Eva Warns About Apples / Cinema 23 y 13, Vedado, Cuba.
Divertimentos / Offices Gallery, Nelson Dominguez, Havana, Cuba.
Puzzle: A Glimpse at recent Cuban audiovisual creation / David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University, Boston.
Videoarde. Critic Video in Latin America and the Caribbean / Brazil Instituto Cervantes.
Convergencias / Goldware Museum, Old Havana.
X Video Art Festival SCREEN Festival / Barcelona, Spain.
A Smell that Comes Through My Window. Havana Cultura / XI Biennial of Havana, Central Exhibition, Museum of Rum, Havana, Cuba.
11th Havana Biennial / Pabellón Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
2011
IV International Festival of Video Art of Camagüey / Camagüey, Cuba.
Videoarde. Critical Video in Latin America and the Caribbean / Cervantes Institute in Casablanca, Morocco / Cervantes Institute in Istanbul, Turkey. Cervantes Institute in Athens. Athens Video / Art Festival, Greece.
I Know How to Read, Text, and Image in Latin American Art / Wifredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art, Havana.
2010
32 International Festival of New Latin American Cinema / Sala Fresa y Chocolate, Havana.
Light Your Own Chemistry III / Project “Inventory”, Edition 89, Ludwig Foundation of Cuba.
5×5 Castelló 2010 International Contemporary Art Prize Castelló Provincial Council / Contemporary Art Space of Castelló (EACC). Valencia, Spain.
Videoarde. Critical video in Latin America and the Caribbean / Spanish Cultural Center in Miami, FL / Juan Salazar de Asunción Cultural Center of Spain, Paraguay / Spanish Cultural Center in Managua. Luciérnaga Foundation of Nicaragua / Coricancha Cultural Center of Cuzco. Festival VAE, Peru.
Los Fundadores de Manizales Theater Cultural Center. International Festival of the Image, Colombia.
Atmospheric (Private session) / Development Center for the Visual Arts, Havana, Cuba.
Audiovisual Tournament / Espacio-Aglutinador, Sede Deportiva 20 de mayo, Havana, Cuba.
Natural Light. A Screening of Contemporary Cuban Film and Video Art / Franklin Patterson, West Lecture Hall, Hampshire College, Massachusetts, US.
Residences Batiscafo / Faculty of Arts and Letters, University of Havana, Cuba.
2009
XX Years Are Nothing / Development Center for the Visual Arts-CDAV, Havana, Cuba.
II Festival Internacional de Video Arte de Camagüey – FIVAC / Camagüey, Cuba.
Fuerte es el morro. Who I am? / Aglutinador Space, Havana, Cuba.
Providence. Latin American Film Festival / RISD Auditorium, Brown University, Cable Car Cinema, US.
Experiment Colombia. Latin American Festival of Media Arts. Version 4.0. Community Communism / Bogota, Colombia.
Experimental video and video art: artists from Cuba / Meeting House, Museum of Antioquia, Medellin, Colombia.
¡Siempre en la lucha! / Festival Loop, Caixa Forum Mediatheque, BCN, Spain.
State of Emergency / X Havana Biennial, Havana Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
La perra subasta / X Havana Biennial Aglutinador Space, Havana, Cuba.
Audiovisual Screening Ephemerides:
2008
Private residence, Havana, Cuba.
Videoarde. Critical video in Latin America and the Caribbean / Itinerant exhibition: Cultural Center of Spain in Mexico. DF, CulturalCenter of Spain in Montevideo, Uruguay, Cine Ocho y medio, Quito, Ecuador, MOCA Cultural Center, Buenos Aires and CulturalCenter of Spain in Córdoba, Argentina. XVIII Exhibition of New Filmmakers / ICAIC, Havana.
Erotica. Sexuality and eroticism / Universal Museum of Art, Havana, Cuba.
Tanda corrida / Exhibition of Cuban audiovisual, V Contemporary Cuban Art Salon / CDAV, Havana, Cuba.
Collective Exhibition of Contemporary Cuban Art, V Edition of the Contemporary Cuban Art Salon / Center for the Development of theVisual Arts – CDAV, Havana, Cuba.
Curadores, go home! / Gallery Aglutinador-Lab Space, Havana, Cuba.
Irreversible simulations / Salle Zero, French Alliance, Havana, Cuba.
We are porno, sí / First Annual International Art Porno. Gallery Aglutinador-Lab Space, Havana, Cuba.
Lança Cuba / A gentil Carioca Gallery, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Stalker / High Institute of Art – ISA, Havana, Cuba.
Belimbo / Batiscafo residence, Bar Belimbo, Belascuaín # 157, Havana, Cuba.
VII Exhibition of New Filmmakers / ICAIC, Havana, Cuba.
2007
Ni a favor ni en contra, todo lo contrario (Look 80) / Faculty of Arts and Letters, University of Havana, Cuba.
Impasse. Video projection / School for Arts and Letters, University of Havana, Cuba.
2006
Bueno, Bonito y Barato (Good, Pretty, and Cheap) / Private residence, Havana.
Parallel to IX Bienal de La Habana / Catedra Arte de Conducta, Tania Bruguera Residence, Havana, Cuba.
2004
Makarov / Gaia House Gallery, Havana, Cuba.
AWARDS
2022 Cuban Artists Fund’s artist-in-residence (2022) / Manhattan, US. 2018 CINTAS FoundationFellowship Awards (Finalist) / Florida, US. 2017 CINTAS Foundation Fellowship Awards (Finalist) /Florida, US.
2017 Award El Reino de este Mundo, Hermanos Saiz Association – AHS, Havana, Cuba.
2016 Artist in Residence KulturKontakt / Vienna, Austria.
2014 Maretti Awards / Cuban Art Factory, Havana, Cuba.
2013 Master Artists in- Residence. Atlantic Center for the Arts / New Smyrna Beach, Florida, US. 2013 Residence Hermanos SaizAssociation – AHS in collaboration with the European Union in Cuba implemented by ARCI, Havana, Cuba.
2010 Habana Cultura Residency / Supported by Havana Club, Havana, Cuba.
2010 Residence Batiscafo / Triangle Art Trust, HIVOS Foundation, Britain, Havana, Cuba.
2008 Residence PERRO / Aglutinador-Lab Space, Havana, Cuba.
2007 Intermediae-Minbak. IFEMA ARCO Collateral / Matadero Madrid, Spain.
2005 Curatorial Award Bueno, Bonito y Barato / AECI. Embassy of Spain in Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
COLLECTIONS
The Hemispheric Institute of Performances and Politics, NYC.
Ludwig Forum for International Art / Museum in Aachen, Germany.
CIFO Art Foundation / The Ella Fontanals-Cisneros Collection, Miami, United States.
Cuban National Museum of Fine Arts / Havana, Cuba.
National Council of Plastic Arts – CNAP / Havana, Cuba.
Daros-Latinamerica AG / Zurich, Switzerland.
Havana Cultura, Havana Club International S.A / Havana, Cuba.
Caixaforum / Barcelona, Spain.
EXPERIENCE AS A CURATOR
2021 Welcome to the Everglades / Thomas Nickles Project, NYC, US.
2019 On the altars of vanity / Dotfiftyone Gallery, Miami, US.
2018 Más allá de la belleza / Villa Manuela Gallery, Havana, Cuba. 2016 Living with the past / haaaauch-quer Gallery, Klagenfurt, Austria. 2015 Frontiers in Question II / CDAV, Havana.
2014 Frontiers in Question I / Artepari –Gallery for Contemporary Art, Graz, Austria. Gallery Kunstraum haaaauch-quer, Klagenfurt, Austria.
2010 Historia Natural / CDAV, Havana, Cuba.
2010 Audiovisual Screening Ephemerides: 2008 / Wifredo Lam Center of Contemporary Art, Havana, Cuba.
2009 XX Years are Nothing / CDAV, Havana, Cuba.
2008 Body Art / First Annual International Art Porno We are porno, sí. Gallery Aglutinador-Lab Space, Havana, Cuba.
2007 Inventario / V edition, Ludwig Foundation of Cuba, Havana, Cuba.
LECTURES
2021 Welcome to The Everglades, an Investigative Project on Art and Environment / Documentation Division Lecture Series at theUnited Nations / US.
2018 The Sense of the Beautiful in Four Curatorial Packages / Converging about Contemporary Art, Organized by Dr. Magaly Espinosa,Cuba Pavilion, Havana, Cuba.
2016 Beyond the Metaphor. The Meaning of Usefulness in Six Artworks/ Academy of Fine Arts of Vienna, Austria.
2015 The Expanded Performance as a Model of Cultural Understanding/ Faculty of Arts and Letters, Havana, Cuba.
2014 The Expanded Performance as a Model of Cultural Understanding/ Studio XX, Montreal, Canada.
2011 Creative Strategies Classified. Video as a Means of Cultural Understanding / IV International Festival of Video Art in Camagüey, Cuba.
2009 From the Great Theory to the Abuse of Beauty / High Institute of Art (ISA), Havana, Cuba.
PUBLICATION
“An Aesthetic of Disgust: Expanded Performance as a Model of Cultural Understanding. Provocation.” TDR: The Drama Review 55:3 (T211) Fall 2011.
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
2023 Teaching Artist, Education Department, Queens Museum, New York.
2013-2017 Teaching Artist at San Alejandro National Academy of Fine Arts, Havana, Cuba.
2009-2012 Visual Arts Specialist, Center for the Development of the Visual Arts (CDAV), Havana, Cuba.