Earlier this year, the TED-prize-winning photographer and street artist JR was invited to develop a project for the Havana Biennial; he invited the painter José Parlá, a friend and a first-generation Miami-born Cuban-American, to collaborate. Embarking on another iteration of JR's Wrinkles of the City project - which had previously focused on Shanghai, Los Angeles and Cartagena - Parlá and JR photographed and interviewed 25 of Havana's oldest residents. Two months later, they wheat-pasted oversize images of the subjects' faces on the distressed walls of the city, accented with Parlá's calligraphic words and painting. To celebrate the completion of this project and an accompanying book and short film, Parlá conceived a pop-up Cuban "cafécito" at Andre Balazs's Standard Spa, to run during Art Basel Miami Beach week, operated by Miami's beloved Cuban restaurant David's Café. The artist constructed the 24-hour Cafecito Neptuno - complete with a walk-up order window, psychedelically patterned tiles and aqua counters - named for the busy thoroughfare in Havana. On Saturday and Sunday, the duo will screen their 26-minute documentary; a short excerpt from the film appears above. The Moment sat down with JR and Parlá to discuss the project. M.C.: Can you talk briefly about the early process for the project and finding your subjects? JR: We took two different trips to Havana. The first, in February 2012, was a scouting location trip and the first time we took all the photographs. Parlá: We stayed in Old Havana and walked through the streets. In Havana people are always outside on the street talking. We would approach people and ask them to participate in our project, and I would show them JR's book of his prior projects and JR would show them my book of paintings. This started the interview process. M.C.: JR, was that your first time in Havana? JR: Yes, it was. M.C.: José, your family is originally from Cuba and you've gone down there more recently? Parlá: My parents left Cuba before I was born. I was born in Miami. I was able to go back to visit for the first time in 2001. Since then I have gone back five times - my fourth and fifth trips were actually with JR. M.C.: Can you talk briefly about the process of pasting and painting the images - how did you get the 25 murals up in two weeks? JR: We would work on 15 or 17 locations throughout the city simultaneously. As we started one mural, then we would jump on a bicycle or a moped and go start another mural separately, then come back and meet each other. Our teams would do the same thing. It was a little system that we sort of improvised but was working really well. Parlá: We had to bribe the cherry-picker drivers to help us. They would have to take off to go work on electricity somewhere in the city and they would come back to us. On the last day, after we'd been painting for two weeks straight, we were dead exhausted. M.C.: And how did the Havanans feel about the project? Cubans tend to pride themselves on their colorful opinions and language, no? JR: People in the street would interfere. Sometimes they would say the piece was not finished, sometimes argue with the piece - with the language - and sometimes a street would be more quiet and so would go much faster. It generated a lot of discussion, and eventually people would come to their point of view. And that is part of the process of working in open air with the people, especially in a place where they have some news in the streets, but never in the way that visually takes over advertising. People were like, "Oh is this Fidel? If it's not, then who is it? Because it had to be somebody famous. If we did not tell, they would be afraid that we were doing something illegal or that it was political and would not stand next to it. As soon as they would find out it was art, they would feel free to speak and exchange a point of view. And at times they would say nothing and just shake our hand and leave. For me, those were the strongest moments; it says so much more. Parlá: Sometimes kids from the neighborhood would come and help us. It was emotional in a lot of ways, because being Cuban for me and working there, every voice I heard reminded me of my childhood. I was connecting on so many levels subconsciously with the entire surrounding. Almost all of the time the Cubans had something energetic to say about the work. It was incredible. M.C.: To debut the project in Miami, why did you choose to create the pop-up Cafecito Neptuno? Parlá: I wanted to create a space to have a gathering, and you know coffee is like pretty much the most important welcoming drink in the Cuban culture. It invites conversation. M.C.: Is there any tension in presenting this project about Cuba during the very money-oriented setting of Art Basel Miami Beach? And how might this project influence the relationship between Miami and Cuba, if at all? JR: I'm sure it will frame discussions and debates around the political tensions. But, importantly, this should be considered an art project, not a political project. Two artists set a vision in a place and want to share it with people, so what better place to release than a museum, gallery or art fair? And then of course [the book] will travel from place to place - from libraries to homes - and the movie, too, when it is released. So for me, it's really important to set the tone by releasing it in an art context. From there, of course, it raises questions of social or political issues. Parlá: And Art Basel Miami Beach and the [Havana] Biennial are really not that different - they're both platforms where a lot of people gather and will see and discuss art. And as a matter of fact, even in Cuba during the biennial, even though it's not set up for selling art, people are still buying and selling art because a lot of people go down there to discover Cuban artists. Growing up in Miami, the topic of Cuba is always very difficult. But amongst the youth [in Miami], the conversation is changing. The way that young Cubans think now is different than what their parents thought. So for me, it's going to be interesting to see how young people react to our project. It's like they're traveling with us to Cuba through the film and the book. Cafecito Neptuno is open 24 hours a day through Dec. 9 at the Standard Spa (40 Island Avenue, Miami Beach). On Dec. 8, from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m., the Standard will host a book signing followed by a screening of the documentary.