INTERIOR (THE LOCK PIECE)
1995. Video installation

The footage of this piece was taken in a motel in Holland, during a study travel. During the night, I could hear the sound of people having sex loudly in the room next door. Since I couldn’t sleep, I went out into the hallway and recorded a video through the keyhole taking advantage of its old-fashioned design. I was surprised when I saw that the video that I got was of a room interior where half of a TV set was in view, and a porn movie could be seen —that was the sound I had heard. Then, I mixed in real time this audio with that of my heart beats resulting from my nervousness while recording the video. The piece was installed in a little 14-inch monitor in my first personal exhibition in Wilfredo Lam Center in Havana in 1996. The image of half of the porn video represented approximately an eight of the tiny monitor; however, the viewers stayed in front of it watching. The piece, accused of being “pornographic”, was censored the day after the inauguration.