CubaPLUS Magazine

Luthier, photographer, plastic artist; Maikel Moret Santana creates in different ways, making him an artist at the height of modern day advances.

Born and bred in Havana, ever since he was a young child Maikel was taken with repairing clocks and figuring out how electrical and mechanical devices worked which, along with his passion for classical music, brought him to the fascinating world of lutherie. He eventually took lessons from a prestigious Italian luthier.

Moret graduated in Computer Science, specializing in hardware, which has contributed to his art in a way rarely seen. He creates musical instruments and other gadgetry capable of reproducing sounds and multicoloured lights. He is a member of the Cuban Association of Craftsmen Artists (ACAA); he served as luthier for the National Symphonic Orchestra and presently for the prestigious Amadeo Roldan Conservatory.

Lover of photography, Maikel says: Through it I try to capture the unrepeatable, discovering the beauty in common day things, revealing unsuspected edges of objects, animals, human beings, in dissimilar places and circumstances. Without changes or manipulations I try to preserve inadvertent, natural states".

Black and white photography is my favorite because of the dramatic effect that its contrasts are capable of producing. There are monochrome snapshots that would be ruined if they were in colour; some black and white truths cannot be transmitted in any other form or context", adds Moret.

With regards to his other passion, he expressed: In techno art I find that comfortable space where I can move between dissimilar forms, volumes, sounds and lights. Through this intuitive and conceptual context I combine sui generis computer codes and lutherie tools, creating a cognitive and expressive complicity. From the merging of lutherie and technology new exquisite works of art have been born that can not only be admired aesthetically, but which have turned into functional, kinetic pieces emitting light and sound", he pointed out.

Sensors of movement and light, microengines, microprocessors and toothed wheels are some of the most common elements at the heart of majority of these techno art pieces. They all have a conventional USB port to enable communication with the computer or so that they can be recharged in a quick and e ffective way.

Moret does not stop creating for a moment. At the present time he is working on an important collection of miniature electrical gadgetry that was popular in homes during the 70ás and 80ás. All these pieces will be completely functional, but in such a small scale that they will be able to be held in the palm of the hand.

As for the future of techno art, of which Moret is considered to be a pioneer in this country he says: I think that technology has extended our capacity for perception and expression but not necessarily for creativity. The challenge of art done with technology is to find a social anchoring, a significance, as has been done in other artistic disciplines. I see a future dedicated to creativity, and my number one rule at the time to create is to have complete freedom".