A few thoughts on the Bienal

There is such a strong curatorial voice at this year´s Bienal de Sao Paulo. Magnhild and I have been discussing the repercussions of  this with each other and with many people we meet - paulistanos, like minded travelling artists and curators - to the point that it really overshadows the work shown in the Bienal. This is both the problem and the factor that makes the 28th Bienal so interesting, different and controversial.

I have already briefly touched on the concept behind the ´vazio´or ´void´, which in the bienal catalogue is described as a "reflexive pause necessary for the Bienal de Sao Paulo to carry out an exercise of self-criticism in relation to the art world". The totally empty floor of Oscar Niemeyer´s Bienal pavillion can also be seen as a protest to the reduced budget left after the last Bienal was marred with corruption when money `disappeared´. Before coming here I read about the concept of the void, and thought that this would be the most difficult element of the show for many people. More often though the reaction has not been about the `void´ nor about the work itself, but about the curating of the show and whether this is successful. 

There are no names of artists or titles by any of the works, which has the effect of demphasising the the importance of individuals proposals. Many of the works are definately more proposals than outcomes, they require participation and the subjective reading the visiting audience brings to stir interpretation of the work. In this way it makes an interesting comparison with the Tropicalist history of Brazilian art, which emphasised participation and activity within the works amd the gallery spaces in order to democratise the experience of the work. Part of the problem with the `plan of readings´, the third floor of the Bienal, is that this participation is most often cerebral rather than animated. The curators describe the objective of this library atmosphere as to activate the heritage and memory of the Bienal de Sao Paulo and the history and tradition of Bienals themselves. 

There seems to be a strong dislike of highly conceptual work among artists I have spoken to here and it is necessary to work hard to reach some of the works in this Bienal. It is not that they are difficult per se, but that they require time and thought. 

"Artists working on the border between reality and fiction, between the creation of documents and instituted truths, between personal memory and collective history, were invited to develop and/or present projects that bring to light some aspects of the history of the Bienal de Sao Paulo, seen from different perspectives."

I realise that I have not written any description of any of the works in the Bienal yet, this reflects how much the emphasis is on the curatorship in this Bienal. Magnhild and I are going back to Ibirapuera park today to get another reading of the work so I will speak