new show
LA RESISTENCIA: Danilo 'El sexto' Maldonado
"El grafiti es una herramienta contra el poder", hablamos con el artista cubanoEl Sexto aka Danilo Maldonado en el Oslo Freedom Forum.
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Cuba’s Internet paradox: How controlled and censored Internet risks Cuba’s achievements in education
But this kind of blocking doesn’t only happen on the web in Cuba. According to 14ymedio, Cubacel — the national cellphone network — has been censoring SMS text messages containing the terms “democracy” and “hunger strike”. When graffiti artist and former prisoner of conscience, Danilo Maldonado, was in jail in January this year for painting “Se fue” (He’s gone) on a wall after Fidel Castro’s death, it seems text messages containing “El Sexto” (his artistic name) were also blocked.
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United Nations Condemns Cuba for Arbitrary Detention of El Sexto
NEW YORK — The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) welcomes the U.N. determination that the November 2016 arrest and subsequent imprisonment of Cuban graffiti artist Danilo “El Sexto” Maldonado was arbitrary. In a ruling published today, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) explained that Maldonado was denied due process, and recommended the Cuban State to provide him with compensation for his nearly two months of wrongful imprisonment.
Cuban Dissident Artist El Sexto to Premiere Art Show in San Francisco
On opening night, El Sexto will enter a replica of the cell in Havana’s maximum-security Combinado del Este prison where he was once jailed, and will remain there for three days on a hunger strike, consuming only water. Guests will be able to view El Sexto through the bars of his cell as he creates art in solidarity with the Cuban people and political prisoners in countries such as China, Russia, Turkey, and Venezuela. Work on display will include art that El Sexto completed while jailed in Cuba. You can RSVP and learn more here.
Read MoreQ&A: Danilo Maldonado Machado, the dissident artist called 'El Sexto,' on art and liberty in Cuba
At the tail end of 2014, Danilo Maldonado Machado, the graffiti artist known as “El Sexto,” was detained by the authorities as he made his way to a public park in Havana to stage a work of protest art. In his vehicle, he was carrying a pair of pigs that he had painted with the names of the Castro brothers — one “Raul,” the other “Fidel.” His plan was to release them and let members of the public catch them and take them home.
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Democracy and Human Rights: The Case for U.S. Leadership
Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Transnational Crime, Civilian Security, Democracy, Human Rights, and Global Women's Issues
Art In The Era Of Fake News
How should artists respond to the era of fake news? Photographer Alison Jackson is known for her lookalike photographs of public figures in sometimes compromising situations. She discusses why her work is particularly pertinent now.
Australian-Israeli comedian Jeremie Bracka uses humour to explore the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. He explains what role he thinks comedy might have in improving dialogue in the region.
The Cuban graffiti artist El Sexto discusses his arrest and detention following the death of Fidel Castro in November, and what he hopes his art can do to encourage freedom of expression in the country.
How might mass immigration to Sweden influence culture? The writer Elin Unnes considers a new study which looks at the impact of increasing diversity on Swedish popular music.
Read MoreBrazen Cuban Street Artist El Sexto Talks About His Work, Prison And Activism
Danilo Maldonado, the Cuban graffiti artist and human rights activist known as El Sexto, is the very antithesis of the communist “new man” the Castro revolution was supposed to create.
Maldonado spent 55 days in prison after spray painting “Se Fue” — He’s Gone — on a wall of the Habana Libre Hotel the day after Fidel Castro died. He was released Jan. 21 and is now in Miami to thank his supporters and promote his art.
Read MoreCuban Dissident Artist ‘El Sexto’ Released From Maximum Security Prison
Cuban dissident artist Danilo Maldonado Machado, aka El Sexto, was released over the weekend from the maximum security prison outside Havana, where he had been held for nearly two months.
Read More15 Artists, Shows, and Works Censored in 2016
In November, Cuban dissident artist Danilo “El Sexto” Maldonado Machado was detained by police after he released a video celebrating the death of Fidel Castro. In the video, posted on social media, the artist rants against Castro calling him a “mare.” The Cuban police constituted this as falling under the criminal offense of “disrespect.” This was not the first time Maldonado has been in trouble with the Cuban authorities. In December 2014, he spent 10 months in prison for painting the names “Fidel” and “Raul” on a pair of pigs.
Read MoreTalking Protest and Art with El Sexto, Cuba's "Banksy on Steroids"
Danilo Maldonado Machado has no fucks left to give. Known to the world as El Sexto, the 33-year-old Cuban artist works at the crossroads where graffiti, performance art, and live video streaming converge as tools for political activism. The winner of the prestigious Václav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent, El Sexto is Banksy on steroids, and no canvas attracts more attention than the crumbling façades of Havana's neglected, dilapidated buildings (though a recent drought in spray paint supplies has him turning more to performance art and live video). He's emerged at the forefront of a wave of dissident Cubans, many of them millennials, who are using art, citizen journalism, and activism to dismantle what they say is a repressive apparatus that has been deliberately designed to perpetuate the Castro family's nearly-60-year stranglehold on their country. Art, music, and technology have coalesced to question why the Cuban government is opening Cuba to the world now, while simultaneously preventing the same access to its own people. On the phone from Havana, El Sexto discussed graffiti as protest art, the power held by Cuba's youth, and his hopes for Cuba's future.
Read MoreSigned: El Sexto
A rebel, artist, and sometime political prisoner from Cuba.
Read MoreMeet El Sexto, The Performance Artist Fighting For Cuba’s Freedom
“If they kill me, I won’t be the first or the last.”
That’s what prominent Cuban dissident and performance artist Danilo Maldonado Machado told The Huffington Post’s Alyona Minkovski when they met in Havana on Sunday.
Maldonado, also known as El Sexto or The Sixth, has for years been advocating for regime change and freedom of expression in his country. He is fighting for liberty, which he defines as values ranging from the freedom to go online to the freedom of citizens to form political parties and elect their own president.
Read MoreObama in Cuba: An Activist Awaits
Amid the euphoria of President Obama’s visit is a darker reality for the artist Danilo Maldonado Machado, who has been jailed for his work. He hopes this week will spotlight Cuba’s repression.
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