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Mercosur Essays
28March
Events

Mercosur Essays

Ensayos de geopoetica (Geo-poetics essays) is the title identifying the 8th Mercosur Biennial to be held in Porto Alegre, between September and November 2011, with the guardianship of Colombian Jose Roca.

 

The curatorial team is also made up of pedagogical curator Pablo Helguera (Mexico); joint curators Alexia Tala (Chile), Cauê Alves (Brazil) and Paola Santoscoy (Mexico); assistant curator Fernanda Albuquerque (Brazil), and invited curator Aracy Amaral (Brazil).

 

The curatorial proposal wishes to deal with the territoriality from geographic, politic and cultural perspectives, including the concepts of locality, territory, cartography and border: Mercosur as geo-politic construction, supranational organizations in the region and Porto Alegre city as a place to be discovered and activated by art.

 

This international meeting will bring together prestigious artists, with works related to a subject matter which, besides defining the concept of exhibitions, will rule other activation strategies and it’ll be linked to the Pedagogical Project actions.

 

One of the already confirmed exhibitions is Chilean Eugenio Dittborn’s, a chance to pay tribute to the artist. The exhibit, to be held at Santander Cultural, will showcase the Airmail Paintings made by the artist since the 1980s, mixing design, sewing, painting and collage.

 

About the curators

Jose Roca (Barranquilla, 1962), is an architect. He studied in New York and Paris. He was co-curator during the Triennial of San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the 27th Biennial of São Pablo, among other numerous activities strengthening his fame.

 

Pablo Helguera (Mexico D.F., 1971) lives in New York, USA. He’s a visual artist and educator, and he has recently won the first edition of Participative Art International Award (http://pablohelguera.net); Alexia Tala, (Santiago de Chile, 1966) is a professor visiting art institutions in England; Cauê Alves (São Pablo, 1977) is a professor at the Catholic University of São Pablo; Paola Santoscoy (Mexico, D.F., 1974), curator of the central exhibition in the first Biennial of Americas in Denver, USA.: La naturaleza de las cosas (The nature of things); Fernanda Albuquerque (Rio de Janeiro, 1978 lives in São Pablo and Porto Alegre), and Aracy Amaral (São Paulo) is a famous historian and art critic.

 

As invited curator, Amaral will organize the Morada ao sul exhibition (Living in the South) at MARGS (Museum of Art in Rio Grande do Sul), a critic vision of Brazil’s south landscape through the presentation of local elements such as maps, paintings, pictures, books, objects and documents of exploratory journeys. Besides the mentioned expositive spaces, the 8th Biennial of Mercosur will have its venue in Armazéns do Cais do Porto, and other centers of the capital and cities of Rio Grande do Sul.

 

The 8th Biennial of MERCOSUR has already launched its slogan, created by Brazilian artists and designers Angela Detanico and Rafael Lain (www.detanicolain.com), based on Dymaxion map –world map created by Bucminster Fuller– which presents continents with no politic borders, representing a polyhedron that can be tri-dimensionally assembled, it’s a reference of the idea of a territory in constant reconfiguration.

 

The curators for the 8th Biennial of Mercosur continue their research journeys around Rio Grande do Sul and Latin America, which they began back in November 2010. And, as another working tool and journey binnacle of the biennial, they are sharing a blog with the audience, available at:  www.bienalmercosul.art.br/blog

 

Created in 1996, the Fundação Bienal de Artes Visuais do Mercosul (www.bienalmercosul.art.br) is a private rights institution, with no profit motive in mind, with the mission of developing cultural and educative projects in the field of visual arts, applying the best management techniques and promoting the dialogue between contemporary art proposals and the community. In odd years, the Foundation boosts the Biennial of Mercosur event, recognized as the biggest complex of events dedicated to contemporary Latin American art in the world, creating the opportunity for people to access this culture and art, for free. During its career, the emphasis has been made on the educative actions, social contribution, and the search of benefits for collaborators, supporters and the audience.