The Curatorial Team

The 31st Bienal de São Paulo is curated by a team of 5: Charles Esche, Pablo Lafuente, Nuria Enguita Mayo, Galit Eilat and Oren Sagiv with the two associated curators Benjamin Seroussi e Luiza Proença. The group will also be responsible for the 31st Bienal de São Paulo traveling exhibitions in 2015 as well as maintaining the current partnership between Fundação Bienal and the Ministry of Foreign Relations for Brazil’s official participation in the Biennale di Venezia.

“Central to group’s research is a rethinking of the formats of museums, cultural centers, biennials and the role of art in society today. I believe that the Bienal de São Paulo should be a stage for this discussion, a self-discussion, and should take on this challenge. After all, our vocation is to search for new configurations, reflections and propositions. It’s yet another way for the Bienal de São Paulo to advance and, as such, reaffirm itself,” assesses Luis Terepins, president of Fundação Bienal de São Paulo.

Charles Esche is director of the Van Abbemuseum, located in Eindhoven, Holland, where he works alongside the writer and curator Galit Eilat. Esche headed the curatorship of such important international exhibitions as the 9th Istanbul Biennial (Turkey, 2005), and the 2nd and 3rd editions of the Riwaq Biennial (Palestine, 2009 and 2007). As co-director of the London Afterall Journal and Books, he works alongside the curator and writer Pablo Lafuente and the historian and curator Nuria Enguita Mayo. In April this year, the trustees announced the participation of the architect Oren Sagiv – responsible for the design of Intersection | Prague Quadrennial (2011) – as responsible for the design of expography 31 Bienal de São Paulo. The architect Oren Sagiv – responsible for the design of Intersection | Prague Quadriennial (2011) will be in charge of the exhibition’s expography.

The process of choosing the curator for the 31st biennial began in November of 2012 when the directory of the Fundação Bienal entered into a dialogue with directors of institutions, intellectuals and personalities from the arts circuit in Brazil and around the world. From that point on, the decision was made to evaluate the careers of 14 possible professionals. Of them, five received solicitations to send in project proposals. After the proposals were analyzed, two of the authors were invited to participate in meetings at the headquarters of Fundação Bienal de São Paulo.