Omni-Kizzy is an artistic couple that experiment with audiovisual creations, photography, performance art, poetry and music. Their work and their daily lives are vitally connected -often the lines between the two are blurred.
They are founding members of the controversial and internationally celebrated cuban art collective OmniZonaFranca. They have directed and produced documentaries, video art, short films, newsreels, advertising videos. They have performed at different significant venues in Cuba, Europe and the United States.
Because of their Cuban origin, their audiovisual content, writing, music and art works reflect civic discontent, creative self-expression and inner freedom.
Their audiovisuals have received international acclaim and several awards, such as the Vitral Award from the National Association of Film in Cuba, for "revealing a new form of production, perception and thinking through the language of color and sound."
Luis Eligio D'Omni
'Art is a fundamental tool to transform reality'
'Reality is the source of inspiration, it is the medium for creation and the space where I project what I created. Arte Útil (Useful Art) is vital art. The utility of art lies in its capacity to move, transform and re-create reality.
The human mind is our starting point, and our generator and transformer of reality. How can we think and live differently from how we think and live at the moment? Where are the boundaries?
Kizzy M.H. Omni
Kizzy is a Cuban artist and activist that expresses her civic and political ideals through art.
Based on her experience as a psychologist in Cuba she decided to use art as an essential tool for social and personal transformation at opressive circumstances.
Thus began her discovery of counterculture world in the Havana city. She began her project Evolution teaching art workshops for children neglected by the government and creating community events where all the arts were explored and presented in a cultural extravaganza at different neighborhoods of the capital.
This is what we call Art. It is a fundamental tool to explore the unknown and mysterious state of the universal creation of which we are part, and it is a fundamental tool to transform reality.'
Eligio is a self-taught artist who developed his artistic knowledge and skills as a member of Omni ZonaFranca. This multidisciplinary artist collective was founded in 1997 in Alamar, a district in eastern Havana. The group is dedicated to Total Art, a fusion of different art genres. Members shift freely between different forms of artistic expressions such as; performance, music, poetry, spoken word, rap, visual art, graffiti, video and dance.
Through Omni ZonaFranca a space was created where people became free to express themselves. With the foundation of Poesía Sin Fin (Endless Poetry Festival) (1999-2013) such a space was born. At the festival participants and visitors discussed censored topics freely. The festival became immensely popular reaching almost 4000 visitors until the government intervened and barred the event from public space.
Another event founded by Omni ZonaFranca was Friday of Performance (2003-2008) where Eligio united artists from around the country. In 2003 he participated in the founding of the Catédra Arte de Conducta (Behavior Art School) of Tania Bruguera. This project focused on the discussion of art as an instrument for the transformation of ideology through the activation of civic action. In 2009 Omni Zonafranca became prohibited by the Cuban government. This inspired Eligio to create the internationally recognized Art Temple Houses, which have been functioning as creative labs and artistic training spaces.
Eligio participated in varying Biennials and Art Festivals in Europe, the United States and Latin America, including; The International Liverpool Biennial; Cuban Film Festival, Munich; Arte No Es Fácil, Links Hall Center, Chicago; O, Miami Poetry Festival and Pérez Art museum, Miami. In 2013 he made a second tour in the USA, and was invited by AS220.org, Brown University, The MaMa Experimental Theatre and the Glasshouse Gallery in New York, Edge Zones Projects and International Performance Festival Miami.
By Sophie De Jonge: Art Tree Gallery
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As part of Omni ZonaFranca she led for three years the event Spiritual Fair, a special day in the festival, where they met representatives of several spiritual and mystical tendencies for demonstrations and exercises in the community. She participated in the national tour of the group Omni ZonaFranca in 2011, documenting and producing shows in the provinces of Santiago de Cuba, Granma and Guantanamo.
Kizzy collaborated in founding alternative spaces in the circuit of art and activism in Cuba, as the internationally recognized Art Temple Houses, which have been functioning as creative labs and artistic training spaces all along the island.
She developed several audiovisual projects within Omni ZonaFranca and projects as State of Sats and Playback Theatre Company Cuerpo Adentro. She directed, documented and edited several documentaries with a civic and social view along the island as part of her research and documentation of the Cuban reality at the early twenty-first century.
Gusano documentary, made with the State of Sats project addresses the issue of government repression of civil society activists at Cuba. This documentary won international renown for being the first recounting the history of this abhorrent practice in the Castro dictatorship and fully documenting the organization and development of an act of repudiation to the artists and peace activists gathered in a Forum for Rights and Freedoms of Cubans.
In 2012 she makes an artistic marriage with Luis Eligio D Omni, in which they merged the performance, music, photography, writing and audiovisual performing at different art series that focuses on the exploration of current societies, its rituals, its life cycles and invisible projections.
Omni-Kizzy have participated together in exhibitions and major events in the United States, including O'Miami Poetry Festival at Pérez Art Museum of Miami, the Miami International Performance Festival, NoPassport at Louisiana State University Department of Theatre, exhibitions at the Glasshouse Gallery of New York, VISUAL MASHUP at Joan Mitchell Center Gallery, Tree Art Gallery in Holland, Aluna Art Foundation and the Museum of Art and Design in Miami.
In 2009 she joined the organizing team of Endless Poetry Festival in Alamar (East Havana) created by the Omni ZonaFranca group (1999-2014), recognized for their collective experimentation and mixing art, as well as for their critical visions of the social environment.
