The Arte Calle treet Art'' Group (El Grupo Arte Calle) was a Cuban art collective founded by

Aldo Menéndez Lopez Aldo may refer to: * Aldo (given name), male given name ** Aldo (footballer, born 1957) ** Aldo (footballer, born 1977) ** Aldo (footballer, born 1988) * Aldo Group, a worldwide chain of shoe stores * Aldosterone Aldosterone is the main mine ...

(Aldito) and Ofill Echevarria in 1986. The group, as first was documented by a documentary of the Escuela Internacional de Cine y Televisión (EICTV) de San Antonio de los Baños, Cuba (International School of Cinema and Television of San Antonio de los Baños), directed by Pablo Dotta as his thesis work and copyrighted, 1988, Entitled: "Viva la Revolu", consisted of eight students of visual art in ages between 16 and 23 years old, most of them from the legendary

Academy Of San Alejandro Academia Nacional de Bellas Artes San Alejandro, is the oldest and most prestigious fine arts school in Cuba. It is also known as Escuela Nacional de Bellas Artes "San Alejandro", Academia San Alejandro, or San Alejandro Academy. The school is lo ...

, who staged a series of "

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Graffiti Graffiti (singular ''graffiti'', or ''graffito'' only in graffiti archeology) is writing or drawings made on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from simple written "monikers" to elabor ...

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Happening A happening is a performance, event, or situation art, usually as performance art. The term was first used by Allan Kaprow in 1959 to describe a range of art-related events. History Origins Allan Kaprow first coined the term "happening" i ...

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Performances A performance is an act or process of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment. It is also defined as the action or process of carrying out or accomplishing an action, task, or function. Performance has evolved glo ...

" between 1986 and 1988. The group transformed icons from

pop culture Popular culture (also called pop culture or mass culture) is generally recognized by members of a society as a set of practices, beliefs, artistic output (also known as popular art pop_art.html" ;"title="f. pop art">f. pop artor mass art, some ...

to make ideological metaphors. The group, which in the beginning was "non officially" led by Aldito Menéndez and that after his voluntary separation from it in 1987, continued its work equally successfully until its break-up one year after, consisted of: Aldito Menéndez, Ofill Echevarria,

Eric Gómez Galán The given name Eric, Erich, Erikk, Erik, Erick, Eirik, or Eiríkur is derived from the Old Norse name ''Eiríkr'' (or ''Eríkr'' in Old East Norse due to monophthongization). The first element, ''ei-'' may be derived from the older Proto-Nor ...

, Ernesto Leal Basilio,

Iván Alvarez Ivan () is a Slavic male given name, connected with the variant of the Greek name (English: John) from Hebrew meaning 'God is gracious'. It is associated worldwide with Slavic countries. The earliest person known to bear the name was the Bul ...

, Ariel Serrano,

Leandro Martínez Cubela Leandro définition : * Super Intelligent ( environ 200 IQ) * Beau et musclé * Aime les proteines * Veut dire homme Gorille et Lion super rapide See also * Leandra (disambiguation) {{disambiguation, geo ...

and

Pedro Vizcaíno Pedro A. Vizcaíno Martínez (born October 11, 1966, Havana, Cuba), is a Cuban-born American visual artist based in Miami, Florida. He was one of the members of Arte Calle, a Street Art group, between 1985 and 1987. He works in the mediums of pa ...

. Arte Calle was also well known by including friends and all kind of young artists in its actions. Some of them achieved a name as well, as part of the famous Havanan group, such as: Hugo Azcui, Nilo Castillo, Ernesto Benítez, Alan Manuel González, Max Delgado, among others. One of the emblematic works of the group was the street performance, nearer to a street demonstration, where Menéndez painted on a canvas the phrase "Relive the Revolu" and stood next to a container with a sign asking the public for their donations to finish the work.Pablo Oyarzún, Nelly Richard, Claudia Zaldívar Arte y política- 2005 p15 "Pero ya en el segundo lustro la plástica devino la tribuna más osada, y algunos street performances de los 80, como los del Grupo Arte Calle, fueron verdaderas manifestaciones callejeras. Aldito Menéndez, miembro del grupo, pintó sobre un lienzo la frase «Reviva la Revolu» y puso al lado un recipiente con un cartel pidiendo al público su contribución para terminar la obra."

References

{{authority control Cuban artist groups and collectives