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/