1. Staging Havana: The Buena Vista Social Club Project
Beyond the Global City: Visual, Verbal and Virtual Experiences
A Two-Day Colloquium [May 2011]
James Clifford Kent
Hispanic Studies: School of Modern Languages, Literatures & Cultures
Royal Holloway: University of London
j.c.kent@rhul.ac.uk
jckent.com
Buena Vista Social Club (1999) – film still

2. In an old movie palace called ‘America’
in old Havana there was a giant mosaic
on the floor of the foyer, hidden under a
layer of dust like everything here. It
showed a large-scale map of North and
South America. In the middle, nestling in
the big bay between the two half-
continents, like a baby between its
parents, or like a seed in the ground, lay
Cuba. Havana was the centre of
gravitation in this map.
-!Wim Wenders
‘Picture Cuba’ in Buena Vista Social Buena Vista Social Club –
Buena Vista Social Club (the
Club: the companion book to the film recording – album cover)
(London: Thames & Hudson, 2000)

3. Buena Vista Social Club – film still

4. Havana – Google Maps

5. Buena Vista Social Club – film still

6. Buena Vista Social Club – DVD cover

7. Buena Vista Social Club and
iconicity :: What’s in an album cover?
Buena Vista Social Club – Buena Vista Social
Club (the recording – album cover)

8. Wim Wenders & Compay Segundo - from Buena Vista Social Club –
The Companion Text

9. Documentary footage of Havana #1 :: the
observational mode
Buena Vista Social Club – film stills

10. Buena Vista Social Club – film still

11. The tourist gaze ::
“I came on down to Havana.”
Buena Vista Social Club
(dir. Wenders, 1999) – film still
Kings of the Road
(dir. Wenders, 1976) –
film stills

12. Buena Vista Social Club – film still

13. Documentary footage of Havana #2 :: the
performative mode
Buena Vista Social Club
(dir. Wenders, 1999) – film stills

14. Groucho Marx
Photograph of Pio Leyva from Buena Vista Social Club –
The Companion Text

15. Theolonius Monk
Felix the Cat
Buena Vista Social Club – film still

16. Staging the everyday Havana :: Pío Leyva
& the dominó scene
Buena Vista Social Club (dir. Wenders, 1999)

17. (Non-)transitional spaces ::
“My days of passing the hat are over.”
Tokyo-Ga (dir. Wenders, 1985)
Buena Vista Social Club
(dir. Wenders, 1999) – film still Paris, Texas
(dir. Wenders, 1984)
Tokyo Story
(dir. Ozu,
1953)

18. Buena Vista Social Club (dir. Wenders, 1999) – film still

19. Buena Vista Social Club – film stills

20. Buena Vista Social Club
(1999) – film still
Gas (1940) –
Edward Hopper
Buena Vista Social Club
(1999) – film still
Early Sunday Morning
(1930) – Edward Hopper
Buena Vista Social Club
(1999) – film still
Office in a Small City
(1953) – Edward Hopper

21. Buena Vista Social Club – album cover

22. Buena Vista Social Club – film still

23. Buena Vista Social Club – film still

24. Buena Vista Social Club – film still

25. Buena Vista Social
Club – film stills

26. Buena Vista Social Club – film still

27. Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall – Buena Vista Social Club
(album cover - front)

28. Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall –Buena Vista Social Club
(album cover - back)

29. Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall – Buena
Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club – Buena Vista Social Club (album sleeve)
(album sleeve)