Covert Planning
2018
Documents and pictures
Dimensions variable
Adrián Melis (1985) works with the socioeconomic structures of societies and the ways in which individuals operate within them. The shifting nature of politics and state organisms means that populations must adapt to the frameworks they are given. Melis poetically analyses subjects such as unemployment, bureaucratic inefficiency, corporate hierarchies and political corruption by weaving together the personal stories of affected individuals. Originally from Cuba, his works are often imbued with a sense of the absurd and the illogical that can also be detected in the interventions of the state apparatus in everyday life and in its means of measuring levels of production.
Covert Planning is a visual guide to how the artist’s family in Cuba survived the years of aftershock following the collapse of the Soviet Union, a period known as periodo especial. The work is a depiction of the system of logic that all Cubans had to develop in order to survive and shows several business models that it was necessary to implement in order to provide for the family. The sketches illustrate designs originally made by Ms. Marta Teste, the artist’s grandmother and the mastermind of all such ‘operations’. Some examples include: breeding Siamese cats in Havana and trafficking them to Miami; earning money for home renovations by renting out rooms to prostitutes, meanwhile hosting Afghan refugees to help with the construction; and even using young pupil as a diversion when delivering beef, hiding the meat inside their school back-packs. Albeit surreal and bordering on illegal, the plans for these mini-enterprises translated perfectly into reality and managed to sustain the family through the most difficult times in Cuba’s history.
adrianmelis.net