35th São Paulo Biennial | Exclusive interview with curators
Curated by Diane Lima, Grada Kilomba, Hélio Menezes and Manuel Borja-Villel, the 35th Bienal de São Paulo, one of the most important art events in Brazil and Latin America, opens on September 6th. We interviewed the curators to learn more about the concept behind the show, entitled “Coreografias do Impossível” [Choreographies of the Impossible], and how they have been working together.
[Kura] The 35th Bienal de São Paulo began from the concept of “choreography” to explore the possibilities of movement and transformation in the contemporary world. What are the main challenges of this world and how will they be explored in the exhibition space?
In a poetic and expanded way, we understand choreography as a set of movements that exacerbate normative and established limits, continually generating their own relationships, times and spaces. But also starting from our interest in understanding how the concept of choreography has been expanded, through its ability to incorporate, reflect and question the social context in which we live. The impossible refers to the political, legal, economic and social realities in which these artistic and social practices of the 35th Bienal are inserted, but also to the way in which these practices find alternatives to circumvent the effects of these same contexts.
In a poetic and expanded way, we understand choreography as a set of movements that exacerbate normative and established limits, continually generating their own relationships, times and spaces. But also starting from our interest in understanding how the concept of choreography has been expanded, through its ability to incorporate, reflect and question the social context in which we live. The impossible refers to the political, legal, economic and social realities in which these artistic and social practices of the 35th Bienal are inserted, but also to the way in which these practices find alternatives to circumvent the effects of these same contexts.
Work by Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro (Photo: Cortesy of Biennial)
2. As in the 1989, 2010 and 2014 editions, this edition of the Biennial does not have a chief curator. How do you, as a curatorial team, think about this curatorship in a horizontal way, exercising the choreography that you will present between September and December, in the largest contemporary art exhibition in the southern hemisphere?
As a curatorial team, we take a horizontal approach, with each member contributing their individual perspectives, repertoires and experiences. We work together, discussing and sharing ideas to create a cohesive choreography that engenders the 35th Biennial. Collaboration and the constant exchange of knowledge between us are fundamental for the construction of a meaningful exhibition. We act in a complementary way, in which difference becomes the driving force of debate, learning and creation. Our individual perspectives merge into a collaborative process where we brainstorm, exchange ideas and make joint decisions. This plurality of visions is what will build the choreographies of narratives and paths that the public will be able to check out when in contact with the exhibition.
3. The 35th Bienal de São Paulo will present works by artists from different parts of the world. What are the main challenges in selecting the artists and collectives that will take part in the exhibition?
When we talk about "impossible" and choreographies of the impossible, we are referring to movement politics and political movements that are intertwined with artistic productions. We are interested in thinking about how the expressive and aesthetic forms of these artists are impacted and transformed by the very impossibilities of the world we live in. In this sense, one of the main challenges is to come up with a curatorial project and poetics that maintain the integrity of these impossible contexts so as not to re-enact the spectacle of subjection.
Work by Luana Vitra (Photo: Everton Ballardin/Cortesy of Biennial)
[Kura] How does contemporary art encourage debates about political, economic and social realities in which it is inserted? How is the choreography able to represent freedom and rupture at the same time?
Art has the ability to question established structures by producing more questions than answers. It is this dynamic of collective learning that interests us. The artists present at this Biennial have different relationships with the idea of the impossible. The idea is to present and stress the issue of how multiple artistic practices deal with impossible contexts and find ways to face them, circumvent them, cross them and escape them, through forms of expression and an exercise in language. [Kura] The Bienal de São Paulo is, historically, one of the main art events in the world. What is the importance of using this space to address subjects like the diaspora and ancestrality through the concept and theme of the exhibition? Diaspora as a context and ancestrality as a cosmology and tool gain importance by permeating the history and culture of different regions of the world. By approaching them at the Bienal de São Paulo, we affirm that these are unavoidable relationships in the contemporary debate, since both are fundamental concepts when we think about how artistic and social practices create strategies that seek to deal with impossible contexts.
Art has the ability to question established structures by producing more questions than answers. It is this dynamic of collective learning that interests us. The artists present at this Biennial have different relationships with the idea of the impossible. The idea is to present and stress the issue of how multiple artistic practices deal with impossible contexts and find ways to face them, circumvent them, cross them and escape them, through forms of expression and an exercise in language. [Kura] The Bienal de São Paulo is, historically, one of the main art events in the world. What is the importance of using this space to address subjects like the diaspora and ancestrality through the concept and theme of the exhibition? Diaspora as a context and ancestrality as a cosmology and tool gain importance by permeating the history and culture of different regions of the world. By approaching them at the Bienal de São Paulo, we affirm that these are unavoidable relationships in the contemporary debate, since both are fundamental concepts when we think about how artistic and social practices create strategies that seek to deal with impossible contexts.
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