Tania Bruguera Announces Presidential Candidacy for Cuba 2018

Tania Bruguera, the Cuban artist and activist born in Havana in 1968, has announced her candidacy for the presidency of Cuba in the 2018 elections. She made the announcement via an amateur video shown during Hans Ulrich Obrist's talk at the Creative Time Summit in Washington DC. Bruguera's candidacy has garnered international attention, with The Guardian's Jonathan Jones writing an article titled 'Why we must support Bruguera's candidacy in the Cuban elections,' emphasizing the liberal opportunities such a change could bring. This comes after 54 years of Castro family rule, with Raúl Castro, 82, having announced that his current term would be his last. The presumed successor is Miguel Diaz-Canel, 52, currently vice president. Bruguera is known for intertwining art and politics, and recently launched a Kickstarter campaign for the Hannah Arendt Artivism Institute in Havana, which promotes the Instar platform for collaboration between artists and activists. The institute opened in May 2015 with 100 hours of readings and debates on Arendt's 'The Origins of Totalitarianism.' Instar has also spoken out against the detention of journalists in Baracoa following Hurricane Matthew.