NN Collective's 1989 Havana Biennial Participation Recounted

In a 2009 Afterall interview, Alex Ángeles and Alfredo Márquez of the Peruvian collective NN discuss their participation in the 1989 Bienal de La Habana. NN, formed by architecture students from Universidad Ricardo Palma, operated from 1988 to 1991. They were invited by curator Gerardo Mosquera after he visited Peru in 1988 and saw their work. The collective's project was installed at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes as part of the central 'Tres Mundos' exhibition. Márquez notes the Biennial was a turning point, though the experience was later partially self-censored. The group faced internal crisis before the invitation, which reunited them. They had no institutional art world presence, being active in underground music, poetry, and architecture scenes. Their work critically addressed Peru's internal conflict and state repression, including the 1986 Prison Massacres. Two members, Márquez and Quique Wong, traveled to Havana at their own expense. They felt affinity with Cuba's Arte Calle movement but were critical of the state-controlled system. Mosquera described their work as 'pepillo'—playful and young. Other Peruvian participants included Jorge Eduardo Eielson, Esther Vainstein, and the Minka collective.