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September 2012
MANAMA
CAPITAL
OF
ARAB
CULTURE
2012
CAPITAL
OF
ARAB
CULTURE
2012
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September
Biennial
AS DEFINED by the curatorial team composed of Luis Pérez-Oramas, André Severo, Tobi Maier and Isabela Villanueva, the 30th Bienal de São Paulo does not have a theme, but rather a motif: The Imminence of Poetics. This motif is the point of departure from which a series of questions about the present may be deduced - among them, how contemporary art functions in a situation of imminence, in an unpredictable world characterized by events that are yet to come and which our patterns of thinking are unable to assimilate fully.
Two ideas are linked within this context: imminence - understood as what is about to happen, is in a state of suspense, on its way to effectively become - and that of poetics - understood as discourse, as what is expressed, is left unsaid, is transformed and takes on communicative power by way of the language of the arts. According to curator Luis Pérez-Oramas, imminence is manifested by the fact that works of art materialize and acquire a different form every time they are presented. Poetics is the symbolic arsenal that permits the establishment of discursive strategies, ever more present in contemporary art.
In the words of the curator, “the 30th Bienal aspires to contribute with a discussion on the range of artistic practices today, rather than affirm itself with definitive, orthodox or messianic proposals.” The exhibition’s curators wish to contribute toward the construction of the present with articulations proposed between the works on view, the consistency of the display design, the clarity of the visual identity and the dialogue with the public.
Two ideas are linked within this context: imminence - understood as what is about to happen, is in a state of suspense, on its way to effectively become - and that of poetics - understood as discourse, as what is expressed, is left unsaid, is transformed and takes on communicative power by way of the language of the arts. According to curator Luis Pérez-Oramas, imminence is manifested by the fact that works of art materialize and acquire a different form every time they are presented. Poetics is the symbolic arsenal that permits the establishment of discursive strategies, ever more present in contemporary art.
In the words of the curator, “the 30th Bienal aspires to contribute with a discussion on the range of artistic practices today, rather than affirm itself with definitive, orthodox or messianic proposals.” The exhibition’s curators wish to contribute toward the construction of the present with articulations proposed between the works on view, the consistency of the display design, the clarity of the visual identity and the dialogue with the public.
7 September - 9 December
Some 3,000 works by 111 artists - half of them produced especially for this exhibition - make up the universe of the 30th Bienal de São Paulo. A glance at the creative process of artists hailing from different backgrounds and generations transforms The Imminence of Poetics into a discursive apparatus in which bonds prevail: the relationships between works and artists in the exhibition and their resonance in seminars, discussions and other poetic or performatic events.
Constellations and itinerancies
The 30th Bienal de São Paulo manifests itself on the notion of constellations. Every component of the Bienal is intended to function in a constellational manner, which allows for groupings of works by each artist and potential relationships among them. The Bienal’s visual identity responds to the idea of constellation, by way of the typographical choice that includes all mono-spaced typeface families and a series of thirty posters, both fruits of a collective process. The exhibition’s education material proposes a repertoire of constellations that includes reproduction of works by participating artists as well as other references from writers to philosophers. In addition to the Constellation Catalogue and the Exhibition Guide, the 30th Bienal in partnership with Hedra publishers, presents a collection of five titles, previously unpublished in Portuguese, by authors who are key to the conceptual elaboration of the exhibition.
This selection responds to the curatorial conviction that works of art are never signifiers in an autonomous manner: they are always relational. This is why the articulation between the Bienal and the city of São Paulo is especially relevant and visible in the different partnerships with institutions throughout the city. In addition to the main exhibition in the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, in Ibirapuera Park, The Imminence of Poetics will also be present at Casa Modernista, Casa do Bandeirante and Morumbi Chapel, at São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), the FAAP Museum of Brazilian Art (MAB-FAAP) and the Tomie Ohtake Institute, as well as with interventions on Paulista Avenue and Luz Train Station. The 30th Bienal, through a cooperation partnership with SESC São Paulo, which extends from the main exhibition to future itinerant exhibitions, will feature an international symposium to take place on November 6, 7 and 8. A significant number of intellectuals from Brazil and around the globe have already confirmed their presence.
Constellations and itinerancies
The 30th Bienal de São Paulo manifests itself on the notion of constellations. Every component of the Bienal is intended to function in a constellational manner, which allows for groupings of works by each artist and potential relationships among them. The Bienal’s visual identity responds to the idea of constellation, by way of the typographical choice that includes all mono-spaced typeface families and a series of thirty posters, both fruits of a collective process. The exhibition’s education material proposes a repertoire of constellations that includes reproduction of works by participating artists as well as other references from writers to philosophers. In addition to the Constellation Catalogue and the Exhibition Guide, the 30th Bienal in partnership with Hedra publishers, presents a collection of five titles, previously unpublished in Portuguese, by authors who are key to the conceptual elaboration of the exhibition.
This selection responds to the curatorial conviction that works of art are never signifiers in an autonomous manner: they are always relational. This is why the articulation between the Bienal and the city of São Paulo is especially relevant and visible in the different partnerships with institutions throughout the city. In addition to the main exhibition in the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, in Ibirapuera Park, The Imminence of Poetics will also be present at Casa Modernista, Casa do Bandeirante and Morumbi Chapel, at São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), the FAAP Museum of Brazilian Art (MAB-FAAP) and the Tomie Ohtake Institute, as well as with interventions on Paulista Avenue and Luz Train Station. The 30th Bienal, through a cooperation partnership with SESC São Paulo, which extends from the main exhibition to future itinerant exhibitions, will feature an international symposium to take place on November 6, 7 and 8. A significant number of intellectuals from Brazil and around the globe have already confirmed their presence.
Luis Pérez-Oramas
Chief curator of the 30th Bienal de São Paulo 2012
Thirty posters
by thirty different authors
The 30th São Paulo Bienal will have 30 posters
This new initiative underscores the fundamental principles of the event, with contributions from the
exhibition’s curators, guest designers, the Bienal team and the general public
Multiplicity of Poetics
The 30th São Paulo Bienal - The Imminence of Poetics will be celebrated in thirty posters by thirty different authors. This new initiative
stems from the process of defining the visual identity for the show, which, for the first time in the sixty-year history of the event, was
developed at an open workshop held toward the end of 2011. A documentary on the initiative is available for viewing on the website
www.id30bienal.org.br.
The thirty posters were created by members of the exhibition’s curatorial team and Design Department, the twelve participants
selected for the workshop and six guest designers.
For the curator Luis Pérez-Oramas, "the thirty posters respond to a shared visual concept, which is precisely the concept of the 30th
Bienal. The fact that a single concept can come in thirty different versions is one of the 30th Bienal’s constitutive principles,
materializing ideas of the multiplicity of poetics, alterformation, survival and formal drift”.
For Oramas, "the 30th Bienal believes in the intrinsic value of variation, and in variety as a distinctive feature of aesthetic experience.
Formal solutions always have a hypothetical value, just as works of art are possible but not necessary solutions in the face of a
diversity of necessities, circumstances and problems: the 30th Bienal will not be a dogmatic show”.
The Bienal Foundation will make the original documents available for download on the workshop’s site (www.id30bienal.org.br).
The Visual Identity
The thirty posters were created around the principles of the visual identity developed for the show, which is based on the idea of
constellation, the pillar of the curatorial project.
The backbone of the identity is the Constellar Mono typographical family, which includes all monospaced fonts, present or future
(Monospaced fonts are those whose characters all occupy the same amount of horizontal space, regardless of design).
The result of this choice is that the visual identity for the 30th São Paulo Bienal rests upon a constellational principle that induces
variation.
The second element of the identity is the Constellational Sign, formed by the likewise variable intersections of four straight lines. In
addition to encapsulating the constellational principle of the show, the sign also alludes to the number thirty in Roman numerals.
The visual identity manual for the 30th Bienal, which will serve as a guide for the creation of all communication material produced for
the event, is available for consultation and download on the workshop’s site.
The Workshop
The workshop to develop the visual identity for the 30th São Paulo Bienal was an initiative without precedent in the exhibition’s history.
All adults resident in Brazil were eligible to enter and the twelve best proposals were selected from the submissions.
According to Pérez-Oramas, the 30th Bienal “fundamentally believes in the value of deliberation and in collective processes of thought
and action, hence the workshop”.
The workshop was conducted by the Bienal’s Design Department Coordinators, the Brazilian designers Daniel Trench, Elaine
Ramos and Jair de Souza, all of whom have worked on earlier editions of the Bienal, and by the Dutch design duo Mevis & Van
Deursen. The curatorial team on the 30th Bienal, led by Pérez-Oramas, with André Severo and Tobi Maier as associate curators and
Isabela Villanueva as assistant, made a vital contribution.
For five days, the group worked intensely on the project, settling on six possible paths after lengthy speculation, debate and
experimentation. Two of these were selected for development by the Bienal team and curators, in contact with the chosen participants.
The workshop process was a unique experience, totally unlike a traditional competition. According to the curators, the intensity of the
discussions, exchanges and experiments was fundamental to the conceptual framing of the Bienal itself.
A twenty-minute documentary on the workshop, complete with participant interviews, can be viewed at www.id30bienal.org.br.
Poster Authors
Workshop Participants
Adriano Guarnieri
Cecília Oliveira da Costa
Daniel Frota de Abreu
David Francisco
Débora Falleiros Gonzales
Miguel Nobrega
Pedro Moraes
Rafael Antônio Todeschini
Renata Graw
Renato Tadeu Cardilli
Tatiana Tabak
William Hebling
Guest Designers
Armand Mevis & Linda Van Deursen
Daniel Trench
Elaine Ramos
Jair de Souza
Rico Lins
Curators
Luis Pérez-Oramas
André Severo
Tobi Maier
Isabela Villanueva
Luis Pérez-Oramas
André Severo
Tobi Maier
Isabela Villanueva
Bienal Team
André Stolarski
André Noboru
Ana de Carvalho
Douglas Higa
Felipe Kaizer
Roman Atamanczuk
Victor Bergmann
Matheus Leston
André Stolarski
André Noboru
Ana de Carvalho
Douglas Higa
Felipe Kaizer
Roman Atamanczuk
Victor Bergmann
Matheus Leston
