Page 121 - ARTE!Brasileiros #37

artist is like a DJ, selecting cultural objects, changing them works performed specifically in the context of the exhibition.
and inserting them into new contexts that they create. David The promotion to production, therefore, seems to be a
Lamelas, Argentine artist and theorist, goes further: “The characteristic that São Paulo’s Biennial started to include in
works do not exist as a final product because they are never its core in order to face the present instability in the art world.
finished”. Rachel is inspired by contemporary dynamism, where The most organised and visible sector of the art world is clearly
new visual possibilities are offered by tools other than the the market, through galleries and fairs, which have become
human eye. The artist’s works explore sensorial and imaginary places of encounter since they have mimicked on recent years
perceptions. some of the activities that the very system of biennials created
Whether or not in a Biennial, an artwork must have the potential as a way to rethink itself.
to mesmerize. For 11 minutes, A Minute Ago magnetizes the Workshops, performances, exhibitions and film festivals with
viewer. It conveys some kind of virtual poetics written with art curatorial work have become common in business events and
elements. Without the manipulative effect of the images, the fairs, a strategy to give consistency and glamour to a basically
video would convey in the viewer the sensation of “desolation”. mercantile event, one that raises interest only for those who
This video installation reflects on the essence of contemporary sell and those who buy. Art Basel Miami started this movement
production and the blurring of the lines between art forms. in 2002, with Samuel Keller in charge of the curation, looking
Rachel is among the videographers who use the concept of for new models for fairs. It thus created a new profile, not
“postproduction” theorized by Bourriaud to build bridges only content-wise, but also one that promotes parties with
between silicon and painting. celebrities, something that became trendy all over the world.
Rachel’s renewed interest in the multiple possibilities of video In São Paulo, museums cannot handle fostering the artistic
art becomes evident in another video also featured in this 32 production. The Museum of Modern Art - Museu de Arte
nd
Biennal, Everything and More , installed on a floor above A Moderna de São Paulo (MASP), for example, has basically
Minute Ago , on display on the ground floor. This work reflects presented its collection as a strategy to save money in its
on the feeling of strangeness with the world surrounding us. exhibitions. Something similar occurs at MAC-USP and at
Rachel interviewed astronaut David Wolf (Nasa) about his Pinacoteca do Estado, places that rarely, if ever, show new
experience of navigating in space and the exciting moment of works of art. If this happens, it’s due to the fact that some
return to Earth. She slightly stresses Wolf’s words describing artists can find financial support in public biddings and thus
his feelings before the immensity of the universe, the stars, do not depend on institutions.
the beauty of the Earth and the smell of grass as he landed, That scenario becomes more sombre when the role of MAC
giving him the sensation that he had finally made it home. in the 1970s and 1980s is recalled. At that time, MAC was a
Again Rachel juxtaposes images in some kind of conceptual place visited by young artists under the incentive of Walter
and technical game, reinventing footages of moving spheres Zanini and his JACs (Young Contemporary Art), exhibitions
and liquid with experimental modules, in an allusion to the organised each year at the museum between 1967 and 1974.
Milky Way. In the artist’s hands, these images are like songs The institutional frailty of the second half of the 20th century,
sampled by a DJ. The concept of authorship seems to be something that allowed many artists to occupy museums by
disappearing, said Bourriaud. As other contemporary artists, their own initiative - Zanini called MAC a “house-museum” - was
Rachel revisits works created in the past and explores them traded for a significant support granted by laws of incentive.
with different artistic strategies. Early in 1980, Achille Bonito This support, however, was not reverted to artists, but to
Oliva, theorist of trans-avant-guard, predicted that today’s cultural producers, especially to those sponsored by financial
artists would be like nomads traveling through time, revisiting corporations.
styles and reinventing old concepts. Therefore, the Biennial became one of the few spaces for the
production of new works that may be considered experimental.
1 | EVERYTHING AND MORE (2015), RACHEL ROSE After all, only a very small share of the galleries does not show
decorative objects that can go straight to the walls of collectors.
2 | EVERYTHING AND MORE (2015), RACHEL ROSE In this sense, it is significant that this strategy of opening to the
experimental field has been born within curatorial teams with
SÃO PAULO BIENNIAL REFLECTION | PAGES 40 TO 42 professionals linked to solid museum institutions. Among them
were Jochen Volz, Biennial’s current curator, who worked until
SÃO PAULO BIENNIAL recently at the Serpentine Galleries (London) and is connected
to Inhotim, and Charles Esche, one of the curator of the 2014’s
IS A ESCAPE ROUTE Biennial, former director of Van Abbe Museum (Eindhoven).
Thus, it’s possible to understand how the ones responsible for
FROM MONOTONY the institutional system have realised the risks brought by the
Biennial. Part of the criticism thrown at the recent Biennial
refers to the realization of this strategy. In the case of Live
AS MUSEUMS HAVE FAILED TO PROMOTE LOCAL ART PRODUCTION, Uncertainty, in which the majority of the works was made by
THE 32 BIENNIAL IN SÃO PAULO BECOMES A PLACE FOR commissioning of the curators, it’s not possible to ensure a
ND
successful result. But how can this be charge of contemporary
EXPERIMENTAL ART art? Erika Verzutti had never done large dimension murals,
just as Lais Myrrah had never built monumental structures,
BY FABIO CYPRIANO and even Cristiano Lenhardt had never given a large-scale
performance. The possibility of experimentation of these
The two most recent issues of São Paulo’s Biennial, How to (…) artists is worth their participation alone, since a work of
things that don’t exist (2014) and Live Uncertainty (2016), still contemporary art must not be assessed using the criterion
on exhibition at Ibirapuera Pavillion, have several conceptual of satisfaction of one or another personality or even the
coincidences, among them encouraging the creation of new attention of the public.

INGLES_205X275_New_Ed 37 2.indd 7 11/21/16 8:46 PM