manifesto

manifesto

We are the LACU, a space to rethink and challenge the notions of what it means to be from Latin America and the Caribbean in the context of an art school in the Netherlands.

Latin America & the Caribbean is often understood as a conglomerate of similar languages and/or geographies located south of the United States. However, this definition excludes the historical and cultural complexity of each country, focusing on the perception of Latin by a western, colonialist perspective.

What glues Latin America & the Caribbean as such, beyond language and territory, is the shared experience of societies dissident from the global north, scarred by colonial violence. We recognize that colonialism hasn’t stopped but just transformed and continues.

To be Latin American today is to be a walking paradigm, questioning our past, being unsettled about the present, and hoping for a future.

The LACU aims to be a platform to rethink ways of resistance through decentralizing knowledge as a form of recognition, and create a community of care.