The Trailer Collective
Ciudad Nuclear, Cienfuegos, Cuba
January – July, 2022
«When the construction of the Juraguá Nuclear Power Plant (Cienfuegos, Cuba) was halted in 1992, the surrounding ecosystem began to grow and regenerate. Vegetation gained ground. Groundwater covered the artificial spaces that had been constructed. The neighboring lands were taken over by farmers who brought their animals there (cows, pigs, sheep). And today, they are even the areas where people (not always legally) migrate from the eastern of the country in search of better economic opportunities. In summary, over the past three decades, a marine and terrestrial ecosystem (of human, animal, and plant life) has populated the place and settled in it. Today, it is an environment that extends solidly around the industrial ruin…».
«The path of the blue waters» is an artistic, community, and environmental project that proposes to approach this place and the Nuclear City. This settlement was built with the intention of being the home for masons, engineers, and other workers of the former nuclear plant.
All construction was interrupted in the early ’90s, and the place became a sort of time capsule, still and slow. Today, it faces many socio-economic problems due to its isolation, as well as environmental issues due to the possible construction of a hazardous waste dumspter. However, this information is not very clear to the residents.
«The path of the blue waters» aims to raise awareness about the ecological damage to the blue lakes around the city, the forest, and the soil, as well as the environmental impact on the community in the event that the waste container is finally built.
It’s an invitation to collectively trace a path of (re)knowledge and (re)reading of the place. To reflect on its past, the social utopia that created it, and the current relationships of the inhabitants with their present, and above all, with their future and the preservation of the environment.
Project carried out thanks to the Cultural and Artistic Responses to Environmental Change 2020 Fund, organized by the Prince Claus Fund and the Goethe Institute.
CREDITS
Experts of life/ performers
Atilio Caballero
Arianna Cepero
Fabricio Caballero
Natalia Caballero
Jose Gabriel Limonta
Gabriel Alejandro Limonta Diaz
Taimi Blanco
Aleksander Naranjo
Daniel Anton Morera
Facilitators/mediators
Luis Ángel Rodríguez (Biologist/ environmentalist)
Abel Dominguez (Local historian)
Aleksander Naranjo (Electrical Engineer)
Coordination/direction
Alessandra Santiesteban
Karina Pino Gallardo
Atilio Caballero
Documentation
Daniel Antón Morera (Visual artist)
Grethel Malú Román Urquiola (Photographer)
Karina Pino Gallardo
Collaborations
La Fortaleza Theater Group, Nuclear City, Cienfuegos
Funding
Call for Cultural and Artistic Responses to Environmental Change, 2020. Prince Claus Foundation-Goethe Institut.
+info: The path of the blue waters – website
