Biennial Art Festival: Artists from nearly 50 countries display works in Cuba

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Cuba is hosting the 13th Havana Biennial this month. It's the country's largest visual arts festival, drawing participants from around the world. And, for the first time, a Chinese artists' delegation is taking part. CGTN's Luis Chirino visited this year's exhibition.

Sculptures, paintings, installations, and performances. More than 200 artists from Cuba and nearly 50 countries have turned the Cuban capital and its popular seafront boulevard into a giant art gallery.

A major attraction this year is a collection of contemporary art by young Chinese artists.

ZHONG BIAO ARTIST "I'm very interested in seeing the reaction of the Cuban people. This is the first time that we bring contemporary Chinese art to Cuba and I'm anxious to see the expressions and reactions of those who visit the exhibit."

HUANG DU CURATOR & ART CRITIC "I know that Cuban contemporary art is very strong in the world. So, this time we'd like to promote Chinese contemporary art in Cuba to establish and exchange a relationship between China and Cuba."

Many people came to the opening, along with Cuban culture officials and the Chinese ambassador to Havana, Chen Xi.

LUIS CHIRINO HAVANA "The Chinese contemporary arts exhibit reflects today's China through the expressions of these artists who have come to share with the Cuban people their views and creations at Havana's Visual Arts Festival."

The event is called "The Construction of the Possible" and is dedicated to Havana's 500th birthday this year. People can get in touch with works by established artists and newcomers like 26-year-old Miriannys Montes de Oca. She created this work she calls "Warriors".

MIRIANNYS MONTES DE OCA ARTIST "Mine is an open work based on the young people's plurality of ideas, without any specific identity, young people want to express a different code that bears new contents."

ELBA SUAREZ FESTIVAL ATTENDEE "Each artist puts some spirituality in these works and we translate their meanings according to what we believe in and according to our own imagination."

YUNISKY GUERRA LAWYER "This really enriches our cultural background, so we bring our family and children here so that they learn how to admire arts."

The festival draws attention to the artists' universal, regional and personal concerns, expressed through their works. Luis Chirino, CGTN, Havana.