Adrian Melis

Adrian Melis Sosa (Havana, Cuba 1985) takes as his starting point current socioeconomic circumstances in Cuba as well as in Europe and considers how the shifting status quo affects the lives of individuals and furthermore the ways in which societies operate within their structural frameworks. Drawing from issues of unemployment, bureaucratic inefficiency, corporate as well as political corruption he creates mechanisms in which third parties’ experiences and stories are integrated in the production or execution of his work. His methodology instills within the works ironic and absurd qualities, meanwhile allowing for elements of absence, either formal or symbolic to manifest. Inspired by the lack of motivation and productivity in Cuba, Melis also experiments with creating feasible temporary employment opportunities both at home and in Europe. His works take the form of photography, video and installations.

Cuban artist, Adrian Melis was born shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union and will explore how his practice has been inspired by the absurd and surrealist reality Fidel Castro created in a post-revolution Cuba.
The presentation of Adrian concentrates on four different parts:
1) the machine and the obsession for production
2) the system as an artist + the artist as a worker
3) new structures for production
4) the materialisation of absence.