Who Is Ricardo Porro´s School Of Plastic Arts?

Throughout the course, we as a class have observed many landscapes, each unique in its own right, yet the National Arts Schools of Cuba really garnered my attention. The careful planning that went into these buildings was surprising, each embellishment working towards creatively representing the very art that was supposed to be produced inside. In particular, Ricardo Porro's School of Plastic Arts is the perfect example of a landscape explicit with the vision of the architect and the artists inside. An aerial view of the buildings reveals the seamless curvature of the campus, lacking any sharp points or ends that would distract from the sensuality of the buildings as a whole. The only evident points appear on the roofs of the rounded buildings, …show more content…
Yi-Fu Tuan distinguishes these two titles, “Space is abstract. It lacks content; it is broad, open and empty, inviting the imagination to fill it with substance and illusion… Place, by contrast, is the past and the present, stability and achievement” (Tuan 164-165). Space is the unknown, the unexplored. Place is the space that is filled with experience and meaning. To many the National Arts Schools are just a space, although a space of cultural importance considering they have been recognized by both Cuba and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is interesting to point out that the title of the film is Unfinished Spaces. The filmmakers cannot afford to call the schools a place, despite their extended time observing the landscape and discovering its history. This is due to the American filmmakers being outsiders of this landscape. Even after viewing the film, very few of the viewers can truly call the schools a place. The only true insiders can be the people that experienced firsthand the sensuality so integral to the goals of the schools and to Porro. The architect who created this intimate environment of creation, the students that worked to further reproduce art inside the building, and even the anonymous lovers who found themselves performing acts of love under the hypersensual roofs above them are all insiders to the landscape presented in the film. Perhaps this disparity between insider and outsider is why the schools remain under the threat of complete consumption by the nature that surrounds it. Despite the recognized importance of the National Arts Schools, the limited exposure of sensuality, which is essential to fully understand the landscape, to the outsiders serves as a limitation