“Any idiot can face a crisis; it's this day-to-day living that wears you out.”
Anton Chekhov
'The Cherry Orchard' is the last play by Russian writer Anton Chekhov. It was written as a comedy but was staged as a tragedy in 1904 under the direction of Konstantin Stanislavski. The play tells the story of an estate that must be sold because the family can no longer afford its upkeep. Reforms under Tsar Alexander II in Russia during the second half of the 19th century caused social shifts, creating a new class and impoverishing some aristocrats. Chekhov’s stage work is characterized by a high degree of realism, where the portrayal of the various characters and their social relationships plays a crucial role. The tone is always understated: the characters sit together, talk casually, and drink tea while subtly revealing each other’s psychological flaws. These small, individual stories sharply contrast with the weary social backdrop of political upheavals and an exhausted society. In 1917, the Russian Revolution broke out, fueled by the chaos of World War I. The tsarist regime was transformed into a communist state, which soon succumbed to internal power struggles and evolved into a totalitarian dictatorship.
In 1959, revolutionaries like Che Guevara, led by Fidel Castro, expelled dictator Fulgencio Batista from Cuba and established a socialist society on the Caribbean island. Initially, it was a utopian social project based on collectivism and equality. Successful literacy campaigns were launched, and a leading healthcare system was developed. Cuba became a model for the poor in Africa and South America as the world plunged into the Cold War. Its strong ties with its communist ally, the Soviet Union, were a thorn in the side of the United States, leading to the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962. The failed U.S. invasion of Cuba (the Bay of Pigs invasion) and Soviet plans to install nuclear missiles in Cuba—just 150 kilometers from U.S. shores—further strained relations, bringing the world to the brink of a Third World War. The U.S. imposed an economic embargo on Cuba in 1962, which remains in place to this day. This strangled the Cuban regime, bringing an end to its 'revolutionary honeymoon.' Cuba increasingly relied on the Soviet Union for protection and support. When the Iron Curtain fell in the early nineties and the Soviet Union dissolved, Cuba was left poor, isolated, and drained. Stubborn adherence to revolutionary principles pushed the country deeper into a totalitarian, bureaucratic system where any rebellion was quashed with an iron fist.
After the Covid-19 pandemic, the world has once again become an unstable hotbed of conflict, marked by wars, geopolitical transitions, and widespread unrest. Not only is Cuba fatigued (and may have no choice but to sell its 'cherry orchard'), but the entire world is weary. Social unrest was already brewing before the pandemic, which served as the final straw rather than the primary trigger. In recent decades, political institutions have systematically lost power to financial entities. The press, once considered the fourth estate, fell into the hands of the same conglomerates and economic tycoons, resulting in both subtle and overt interference and indoctrination. Education visibly deteriorated, adding to the snowball effect of social decay. Digitalization, smartphones, and polarizing social media turned masses into isolated individuals, eroding the possibility of solidarity. While the world burns and technocrats tighten their grip on power, ordinary life—inescapable 1—simply continues. We chat and drink tea. The grand narratives and moral compasses provided by philosophy and religion have been replaced by shallow, individualistic outcries. Algorithms and data mining are the despotic systems of our time, steering and controlling us. Paradoxically, this oppression is self-imposed under the guise of 'freedom' that the internet appears to offer. 'El Jardín de los Cerezos' is a project rooted in the realism of theater and its direct connection to photography; both media construct reality. Drawing inspiration from the understated tone of Chekhov’s stage work and a general sense of powerlessness, it depicts contemporary Cuba as a metaphor: a fatigued society burdened by a heavy political context and history, where individuals navigate life with indifference.
The project is divided into three themes: Templos, Aulas, and Cines (churches, classrooms, and cinemas, respectively). These spaces represent the dissemination of 'grand narratives.' Moral and social principles are propagated within them, often at the risk of sliding into indoctrination and control. Each space shares a connection with theater: priests interpret the Bible, teachers perform in front of blackboards, and cinemas literally function as theaters where stories are constructed and projected into the black box of the theater space. As in the camera obscura, this projection enables image, meaning, and deception alike.
Bert Danckaert
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Gallery space by PLUS-ONE Projects: Vlaamsekaai 73, 2000 Antwerp - BE
Opening hours: Wednesday to Saturday: 1-6 pm
www.plus-one.be / info@plus-one.be / @plus_one_projects
For artwork inquiries:
Jason Poirier dit Caulier: Mail: jason@plus-one.be Mobile: +32 495 24 82 99
Thomas De Ben: Mail: thomas@plus-one.be Mobile: +32 498 26 50 44