here is the void exhibition explores the absence of contemporary architecture in havana, by infraestudio

infraestudio has been commissioned by the biennal of havana to show the current situation of cuban contemporary architecture — the collective highlighted the absence of such in the country. titled ‘here is the void’, the exhibition took place on a site of a recently-demolished building, where the architects hung empty posters with the names of the never-realized projects.

for the first time, an empty space of the many that abound in the traditional city was opened to the public during the month of the art biennial

‘we decided to work on 2 basic principles — the emptiness that constitutes the historical role of the architect in the current cuban society and the incremental gap that the city demonstrates in its state of deterioration,’ explains infraestudio team. 

blank banners of unrealized projects show only the name of the author and the place for which they were designed, always respecting the typography and the original color

inside, there were large blank A1 format banners that only showed the name of the author and the name of the project in a corner. as the architects explain, in this way they offered time in a vacuum as a reference to the spaces lost by the city and built in the memory.

the blank papers of size A1 placed on the destroyed walls.

‘we opened this wound in the city to present cuban contemporary architecture through its absence,’ continues infraestudio. ‘a manifesto that produces nothing, a museum of contemporary architecture that sacrifices its content to only show its absence.’

general view of the exposition

the exhibition took place at the site where an old building had stamped months before, leaving its footprints on the neighboring walls

thanks to the help of the local government, the studio was able to remove the remains of the old building and leave the site empty

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.

edited by: maria erman | designboom