Gasikara Kolotora sy Kolontsaina

Soon after Pope Francis landed in Cuba last weekend, he urged the U.S. and Cuban governments to further reconcile. “We have witnessed an event which filled us with hope: the process of normalizing relations between two peoples following years of estrangement,” the pontiff said . President Obama already relaxed the 55-year-old Cuban embargo and   announced last week a raft of other measures   intending to strengthen economic ties between the two countries. But, the U.S.-Cuba rapprochement has some practical implications that go far beyond geopolitics. Cuba, a tropical island famous for its sandy beaches, colonial architecture, and rum cocktails, could soon be available to widespread American tourism for the first time in over five decades. This development is likely to pose not only challenges for Cuba but also for the Caribbean tourism industry. Can other Caribbean islands—most notably beleaguered Puerto Rico—handle the competition? Although tourists face   restrictions ...

Opening on September 23, 2015, the autumnal equinox, Dia Art Foundation presents Puerto Rican Light (Cueva Vientos) (2015), a new long-term work by Allora & Calzadilla on the southern coast of Puerto Rico, inside a remote cave at El Convento Natural Protected Area. Puerto Rican Light (Cueva Vientos)  is the newest iteration in a series of system-based sculptures by Allora & Calzadilla. Central to this commission is a solar energy converter that captures and stores sunlight, which is then used to power Dan Flavin’s Puerto Rican Light (to Jeanie Blake) (1965). For Dia’s commission, the artists ambitiously expand this sculptural gesture by installing Puerto Rican Light (Cueva Vientos)  in a cave in Puerto Rico. The journey is part of the viewer’s experience, similar to other Dia sites, including Walter De Maria’s The Lightning Field (1977) in New Mexico and Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970) in Utah . Allora & Calzadilla address light (both natural and elect...