The Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil is about to happen! From October 18, 2023 to February 25, 2024, the event occupies Sesc 24 de Maio with an exhibition of artists from the Global South, a historical exhibition on the 40th anniversary of Videobrasil and Public Programs.
Main exhibition_ 60 artists from 38 countries of the Global South think about memory
Entitled Memory is an Editing Station, the 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil is inspired by the poem Open letter to John Ashbery, by Waly Salomão. With artistic direction by Solange Oliveira Farkas and curated by Raphael Fonseca, the main exhibition brings together more than 100 works by 60 artists and collectives from 38 countries of the Global South. Therefore, it invites us to rethink art and memory from the perspectives of countries on the margins of the world power.
40-Year Special_ Exhibition offers an immersion in Videobrasil's Historical Collection
This year, the biennial celebrates four decades of existence. In order to work on this memory, the 40-Year Special proposes an immersion in the Videobrasil Historical Collection.
Curated by Alessandra Bergamaschi and Eduardo de Jesus, a series of actions revisits the histories of video and contemporary art in the Global South. The timelines are organized around outstanding works from each of the 21 editions of the biennial. Available on iPads, four documentaries feature the voices of artists, researchers and the public. A video and poetry program is played in a loop on a LED Screen, revealing intersections between images and words. The Video Library brings together 15 programs that propose thematic paths, including historical and geopolitical panoramas.
The exhibition also includes fragments of Waly Salomão's Biblioteca de Grifos [Puzzle Library], a selection of pages from the poet's personal library that contains his notes, markings and graphisms; and the Ideal Library, a living collection of reference publications suggested by the curatorial team of the 22nd Bienal, the curators of the educational program, artists and other collaborators.
Public Programs_ Conversations with artists, performances and experiences frame the biennial calendar
Entitled Echo chamber - inspired by Waly Salomão's poem - the Public Programs broaden the scope of artistic knowledge and integrate different geographies, cultures and temporalities. Curated by Renée Akitelek Mboya, they bring together performances, conversations with artists and experiences.
"Creating these Public Programs was also a way of activating publics within the city of São Paulo, and inviting them into the conversation. This idea of memory as an editing station is certainly in its core: it is an invitation to people who interact with the concept to recreate it, a way of introducing a space in which people could make interpretations on the works that they've seen in the exhibition", explains the curator.
On the cover: 53, Sofia Borges. Photo: Courtesy of the artist
Source: Videobrasil
