33rd Bienal de São Paulo: Seven Curatorial Propositions

Title Aos nossos pais (To Our Parents)
Curatorship Alejandro Cesarco
Artists Alejandro Cesarco, Andrea Büttner, Cameron Rowland, Elaine Sturtevant, Henrik Olesen, Jennifer Packer, John Miller including (work in collaboration with Richard Hoeck), Louise Lawler, Matt Mullican, Oliver Laric, Peter Dreher, Sara Cwynar.
Project Drawing on his interests in issues such as repetition, narrative and translation, Alejandro Cesarco realises a curatorship of artworks from artists that share his conceptual and aesthetic concerns. The show presents artists from three different generations.

Title sentido/comum (common/ sense)
Curatorship Antonio Ballester Moreno
Artists Andrea Büttner, Antonio Ballester Moreno, Alberto Sánchez, Benjamín Palencia, Friedrich Fröbel, José Moreno Cascales, Mark Dion, Matriztica (Humberto Maturana and Ximena Dávila), Rafael Sánchez- Mateos Paniagua.
Project Antonio Ballester Moreno approaches his curatorial project for the 33rd Bienal de São Paulo as a way of contextualising a universe based on the close relationship between biology and culture, with references to the history of abstraction and its interplay with nature, pedagogy and spirituality. For this purpose, he brings together the work of philosophers, scientists and artists. The exhibition encompasses educational toys from historical avantgardes, artworks from Escuela de Vallecas and works by contemporary artists. Amongst the participants, the exhibition features the philosopher and educator Friedrich Fröbel and Rafael Sánchez-Mateos Paniagua, who also contributed to the educational publication “Convite à atenção” (“Invitation to Attention”).

Title O pássaro lento (The Slow Bird)
Curatorship Claudia Fontes
Artists Ben Rivers, Claudia Fontes, Daniel Bozhkov, Elba Bairon, Katrín Sigurdardóttir, Pablo Martín Ruiz, Paola Sferco, Roderick Hietbrink, Sebastián Castagna, Žilvinas Landzbergas.
Project For her exhibition Claudia Fontes draws on a metanarrative: a fictional book of the same title whose content is unknown, except for some fragments and a few material remains. Both Fontes and her invited artists present artworks that activate links between the visual arts, literature and translation, through experiences that propose an expanded temporality.

Title Stargazer II
Curatorship Mamma Andersson
Artists Åke Hodell, Bruno Knutman, Carl Fredrik Hill, Dick Bengtsson, Ernst Josephson, Gunvor Nelson, Henry Darger, Russian Icons, Ladislas Starewitch, Lim-Johan, Mamma Andersson, Miroslav Tichý.
Project In “Stargazer II”, Mamma Andersson brings together a group of artists that have been inspiring and fuelling her own production as a painter. The selection includes a wide range of references, such as 15th century Russian icons; outsiders Henry Darger and Dick Bengtsson and contemporary artists, such as filmmaker Guvnor Nelson, and fighter pilot and sound artist Åke Hodell. The participants share a common interest in expressive figuration and the human body. The exhibition also features a large number of Andersson’s paintings, presenting a vibrant dialogue between her practice and her artistic inspiration.

Title A infinita história das coisas ou o fim da tragédia do um (The Infinite History of Things or the End of the Tragedy of One)
Curatorship Sofia Borges
Artists Adelina Gomes, Ana Prata, Antonio Malta Campos, Bruno Dunley, Jennifer Tee, José Alberto de Almeida, Leda Catunda, Martín Gusinde, Rafael Carneiro, Sara Ramo, Sarah Lucas, Sofia Borges, Sônia Catarina Agostinho Nascimento,
Tal Isaac Hadad, Thomas Dupal, Tunga, and other artists will be included throughout the exhibition.
Project Sofia Borges’ curatorial project, explores a collage of mythological references based on philosophical interpretations of Greek tragedy. Her proposal is to investigate the limits of representation and language’s inability to mediate the real. The exhibition project draws on a mixed curatorial model in which the selection of specific artworks is accompanied by commissioned works. One of the singularities of Borges’ proposal is its activation within a programme of experimentations that take place throughout the duration of the Bienal.

Title Os aparecimentos (The Appearances)
Curatorship Waltercio Caldas
Artists Anthony Caro, Antonio Calderara, Antonio Dias, Armando Reverón, Blaise Cendrars, Bruce Nauman, Cabelo, Friedrich Vordemberge- Gildewart, Gego, Jorge Oteiza, José Resende, Miguel Rio Branco, Milton Dacosta, Oswaldo Goeldi, Richard
Hamilton, Sergio Camargo, Tunga, Vicente do Rego Monteiro, Victor Hugo, Waltercio Caldas.
Project Waltercio Caldas, whose production has always drawn on history of art, proposes an exhibition room where artworks from different artists are confronted with his own works. He proposes a reflection on poetics, as well as the nature of forms and ideas and their implication on the production of art since the late 19th century. Challenging his own work and highlighting often-unexpected interactions we see the emergence of new possibilities for reading art.

Title sempre, nunca (always/ never)
Curatorship Wura-Natasha Ogunji
Artists Lhola Amira, Mame- Diarra Niang, Nicole Vlado, uby onyinyechi amanze, Wura Natasha-Ogunji, Youmna Chlala.
Project For her exhibition project, composed exclusively of commissioned artworks, Wura- Natasha Ogunji invited artists to create – like herself – new artworks in a collaborative and horizontal curatorial project. The work of these six artists range from the intimate (body, memory, gesture) to the epic (architecture, history, nation), explains Ogunji. Each artist’s practice is impacted by their individual histories and by the complex relationship they have with their lands, nations and territories.