How to celebrate things that don’t exist: The 31st Bienal de São Paulo opens its doors

Agnieszka Piksa, Justiça para os Aliens, Justice for Aliens
297 × 420 mm, 8 páginas • colagem digital, ©Agnieszka Piksa 2012

The title of the 31st Bienal de São Paulo - “How to (...) things that don’t exist” is a poetic invocation of art’s ability to create new objects, thoughts and possibilities. The sentence has a variable formula that constantly changes, anticipating the actions that might make present in contemporary life the things that don’t exist, are not recognized, or have not yet been invented.

Arthur Scovino, Caboclo Samambaia (O caboclo dos aflitos), Bracken Caboclo (The Caboclo of the Aflitos)
2014 • dimensões variáveis • instalação - desenho,  impressão à jato de tinta, monotipia e datilografia
©Arthur Scovino

Curated by Charles Esche, Galit Eilat, Nuria Enguita Mayo, Pablo Lafuente and Oren Sagiv with associate curators Benjamin Seroussi and Luiza Proença, and with 81 projects and more than 100 participants from 34 countries, totaling around 250 artworks on display, the exhibition has been conceived as journey through the Pavilion divided into three different areas: park area, ramp area and columns area.

Edward Krasinski, Lança, Spear, 1963/1964 • 12 peças de madeira pintadas em vermelho e preto, fios de metal, cortesia: Paulina Krasinska and Foksal Gallery Foundation  ©Eustachy Kossakowski / Hanna Ptaszkowska and Museum of Modern Art Warsaw  

Jo Baer, Na terra dos gigantes (Espiral e estrelas), In the Land of the Giants  (Spiral and stars), 2009-2013 • 155 × 155 cm
• óleo sobre tela • cortesia: Galerie Barbara Thumm, Berlim, ©Jo Baer 

From 1st to 7th of September 2014, visitors will encounter projects that are grounded in contemporary life and particularly touch on aspects of religion, social conflict, sexuality, ecology, and identity.
 
“In the 31st Bienal, we have tried to bring together artists that tackle the complexities of today when the end of the modern meets the still uncertain beginnings of a new system of thinking”, suggests the curatorial team. “In this transitional time, artists no longer need to claim a special area of skill or knowledge. They are, like many others, searching for a new ethics and mode of existing by which to order their lives and contribute to society.”

Dan Perjovschi, Repertório de desenhos, Society Stadium [Estádio da sociedade]
1999-2013 • dimensões variadas • desenho

To know more about the 31st Bienal de São Paulo please visit http://www.31bienal.org.br/en/

Selections || The Design Issue

          The Design Issue marks a new look for Selections as the magazine is re-launched with a new focus on arts & culture. With two exclusive covers designed especially by Studio Putman, in Paris, and Rana Salam, in Beirut, the issue presents the leading lights from architecture, product design, fashion, and design innovation across the region, with guests from Europe also. Zaha Hadid is in conversation with architectural critic Hilary French; design guru Justin McGuirk reviews this year's Salone del Mobile; Rabih Kayrouz is photographed in his Paris atelier; Sheyma Bu Ali considers Thomas Heatherwick's scheme for Abu Dhabi; and we review Richard Serra's new desert installation. We look to street culture with Rana Salam and peek in to the world of Olivia Putman in our Curated By section.

MONA HATOUM AT MATHAF IN DOHA

Sculptural works with names like Bourj and Bunker represent the damaged buildings of Beirut.

Set in the entrance hall of Mathaf for Mona Hatoum: Turbulence.

We are often in Doha working closely with our partners there, but our most recent visit to the capital of Qatar was a little different. Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art invited us to join them for the opening of their latest exhibition, a solo show called Turbulence by the Palestinian-British artist Mona Hatoum.

Suspended by Mona Hatoum at Mathaf 

(Turbulence, the installation from which the exhibition 

takes its name, is also visible on the floor in the background)

The exhibition was curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, founders of Art Reoriented, who brought a new eye to the extensive body of work being shown from throughout the artist's 30-year career. Arranged as a series of tensions and counterpoints, the main concept behind this retrospective was the idea of turbulence and how it is created by shifting between different types of feeling in the gallery.

Over My Dead Body by Mona Hatoum at Mathaf

This idea comes from Mona Hatoum's artworks themselves, each of which generates a sense of instability using a poised balance between medium and message. Reading or hearing about her work can not compare to experiencing it in person because her large installations in particular (although also her video and smaller sculptures) trigger physical sensations of discomfort and anxiety in the body and mind of the viewer through their structure and motion.

Hotspot by Mona Hatoum at Mathaf

(The Impenetrable installation is also visible in the background)

It was a privilege to be able to interview such a prominent and accomplished artist, particularly as she was born in Beirut and has built up her considerable international reputation by continuing to work with integrity, wit and political awareness to produce world-class art.

The exhibition continues until 18th May 2014. Read our full review of the exhibition with comments from the artist and the curators in the March issue of the Art Paper, free with Selections magazine.