October 6–December 6, 2015
Sesc Pompeia, Galpão VB and Paço das Artes
São Paulo
Brazil
Chief curator: Solange Farkas (Brazil)
Guest curators: Bernardo José de Souza (Brazil), Bitu Cassundé (Brazil), João Laia (Portugal), Júlia Rebouças (Brazil)
From October 6 to December 6, art and culture productions from the geopolitical South converge at the 19th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil | Southern Panoramas. Exhibitions, film programs, performances, public programs, publication launches, and award ceremonies will be held at São Paulo’s Sesc Pompeia, Galpão VB—the new headquarters of Associação Cultural Videobrasil—and Paço das Artes.
Three exhibitions will gather the work of 62 artists from 27 countries: the Guest Artists exhibition, featuring Abdoulaye Konaté (Mali), Gabriel Abrantes (Portugal), Rodrigo Matheus (Brazil), Sônia Gomes (Brazil), and Yto Barrada (Morocco), is testament to the power of voices that speak of and from the South. The Selected Works and Commissioned Projects shows will feature artworks and projects selected from the submissions made in response to two calls for entries. A parallel show will take place at Paço das Artes, showcasing 16 pieces from the Videobrasil Collection.
The Public Programs, divided into Meetings and Conversations, Workshops, Mediation Actions and a Seminar,rely on experiences and discussions to further explore the questions outlined by the Festival’s curation. Check out the full schedule.
The Seminar “Places and meanings in art: debates from the South,” curated by Sabrina Moura (Brazil), dialogues with the Southern Observatory studies program, initiated in partnership with the Goethe-Institut. Its meetings will address the expansion of art as a field of knowledge production, rethinking its traditions, spaces, narratives, and stories. The Seminar will feature the participating artists Abdoulaye Konaté, Cristiano Lenhardt (Brazil), Dor Guez (Israel), Gabriel Abrantes, Keli Safia-Maksud (Kenya), Roy Dib (Lebanon), and Ting-Ting Cheng (Taiwan), plus Berhanu Ashagrie Deribew (Ethiopia) and Karol Radziszewski (Poland); and the critics, curators and academics Andrea Giunta (Argentina), Gerardo Mosquera (Cuba), Júlia Rebouças, Júlio Pimentel (Brazil), Ntone Edjabe (Cameroon), Tania Rivera (Brazil), as well as the members of the 19th Festival’s Award Jury Hoor Al-Qasimi (United Arab Emirates), N’Goné Fall (Senegal), and Till Fellrath (Switzerland).
The Seminar results from Moura’s research in organizing the book Southern Panoramas | Readings | Perspectives for other geographies of thought, to be launched during the Festival, featuring collaborations from Achille Mbembe, Arjun Appadurai, Artur Barrio, Cildo Meireles, Geeta Kapur, Jean and John Comaroff, Joaquín Torres Garcia, and Milton Santos, among others.
The Meetings and Conversations include a tour guided by Rodrigo Matheus, an informal meeting with delegates from the partner residency institutions, readings of portfolios by participating artists, and a meeting with the Caribbean discussion platform Tilting Axis.
The Workshops represent new possibilities of contact with the artists and their poetics. Abdoulaye Konaté kicks off the program with “Woven memory: monotype seen from Mali.” The work of Ting-Ting Cheng provides the starting point for “Vocabulary of an existing South: invention of a world from inexistent places.” “Lambada and the Social Body: the body of memory and dance experience” will be led by Carlos Monroy (Colombia).
The Mediation Actions by Zebra5 Jogo e Arte encourage creative autonomy in visitors, empower their voice and, above all, build knowledge collectively. Visitors will receive attention from educators, as well as be able to take part in themed tours, conversations, creative actions, and workshops during the weekends.
The show at Paço das Artes, Those born for adventure don’t stray from the path, will include two tours guided by Diego Matos, the show’s curator and Videobrasil’s Archive and Research coordinator. Actions offered by Paço das Artes’ educators will be available for the duration of the exhibit.
In all exhibits, dedicated areas will offer additional contents about the Festival’s artworks, schedule, and the Videobrasil Collection. At the Reflection Zone, computers will allow access to Videobrasil’s online platforms, like the Video Library (containing 1,300 collection pieces); Channel VB, featuring Videobrasil’s audiovisual productions, including videos expanding on themes from the Festival; PLATFORM:VB, where artists speak out about the connections that underpin their work, also accessible via QR codes next to the artworks on display; and books edited by Videobrasil and Edições Sesc São Paulo.
