MAC/SAN TV

MAC/SAN TV is a project by Cuban artist Candelario.
Collaborators: Leslie Salgado and Pedro E. Moya (journalist and professors at the Facultad de Comunicación de la Universidad de la Habana), Aurelie Sampeur (curator, France-Cuba -Germany)
 and Catherine Sicot (curator, Canada-France).
Contributors: Esther Suárez y César Riverón (architects), Amilkar Feria (artistas), Andrés Victores (engineer), Eloy Ramón Hernández and Liset Vidal (designers), Claudia Montes de Oca, Karla Valero (students in journalism), Dairon Calvet (art student), Ricardo García-Rojas (student, Harvard, EUA), Lys-Ange Sénescat (Art student, Ecole des Beaux Arts, Bordeaux, France), Jenny Feal (visual art student, ISA (Havana)), Nestor Siré Mederos (visual art student, ISA (Havana), Danay Gil (bióloga), Arnaud Sallé (composor).

MAC/SAN TV is a new Cuban cuentapropia (private) TV channel, with a hybrid nature:

• MAC/SAN TV is a performative installation - a TV studio/set located in MAC/SAN Building - that will be used for live performances, public projections and as an open recording studio.

• MAC/SAN TV will be “broadcast” through the distribution of UBS sticks. Using the USB flash drive as a means of dissemination, MAC/SAN TV formalizes a very specific Cuban phenomenon. With very limited access and slow Internet connections the global digital revolution is lived in Cuba on its own terms through the widespread use of USB sticks. Information, software and movies circulate at fast speed in Cuba through this little object, as will MAC/SAN TV.

• As a reference to conventional TV, the MAC/SAN TVchannel features news and weather reports, commercials, and a variety of programmes such as films, documentaries and video clips. MAC/SAN contributors will use these format conventions as tools to experiment with audio-visual form, local content and personal voices. Sound and video sketches will focus on the territory, heritage and environment of the Havana suburb San Agustin and will provide updates on other artist’s investigations at MAC/SAN,as well as on others being developed within the Biennial.

•  The project is also a broader participatory platform featuring two opportunities for local participants to see their work on TV. Members of the San Agustíncommunity are invited to creatively advertise their agricultural products on TV. A contest for the best advertisement will award the winner with a trailer designed and built at LASA-laboratorio de arte contemporaneo de san agustinas a means to make their business mobile in San Agustín. Local journalism students will take part in a programme exploring the crossovers between art and journalism, focusing on experimental audio-visual narratives.Ten student works will be selected and included in MAC/SAN TV programme. One student will be awarded with a laptop computer for their work.

MAC/SAN TV challenges the traditional paradigm of television by reinterpreting standard TV programmes, by extending its function, means and outlets, by diversifying its contributors and by using an experimental approach to develop audio-visual forms and content. MAC/SAN TV collaborates with visual artists, designers, musicians, journalists, curators, engineer, and the local community to createproducts that blur boundaries between the art world and the television industry.