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Cuba's DIY Inventions from 30 Years of Isolation

submitted by Aard Vark

(oritteropo)
9 years 4 months 1 week ago

YouTube Description:

In 1991, Cuba's economy began to implode. "The Special Period in the Time of Peace" was the government's euphemism for what was a culmination of 30 years worth of isolation. It began in the 60s, with engineers leaving Cuba for America. Ernesto Oroza, a designer and artist, studied the innovations created during this period. He found that the general population had created homespun, Frankenstein-like machines for their survival, made from everyday objects. Oroza began to collect these machines, and would later contextualize it as "art" in a movement he dubbed "Technological Disobedience."

Originally aired on Motherboard in 2011. Read the full article here: http://bit.ly/146oqYW

5 Comments

ELI5: Why is Cuba so isolated, and in such economic distress given that the sanctions are US only, and China and the rest of the world could easily trade with them. I'd think they'd have access to all modern technology not coming from US companies. I understand the citizens don't make much, but I'd think a robust world trade would have made them a bit better off... Is everyone so afraid the US will sanction those who trade with Cuba?

MilkmanDan says...

That was absolutely fascinating -- great sift!

A few random thoughts:
-If any video has ever better demonstrated the idiom "necessity is the mother of invention", I don't know what it is.
-Castro was very very clever to anticipate the technological needs of his people and have the army print that "field guide" book that spurred on greater independent development.
-Some of the things they came up with remind me of working on my family farm. Every day is an exercise in problem solving -- how to solve problem A given a set of tools/resources B. And often the things in B don't really lend themselves towards A... So you end up hammering in a nail with a brick, or patching a friction hole in a metal pipe with a few layers of plastic from a 2 liter bottle and duct tape.
-That artist Oroza is a great combination of artist, historian, archeologist, and storyteller.
-We (the US) still have sanctions against Cuba, but I can't really say why that is warranted...

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