Page 107 - ARTE!Brasileiros #38

In its 14th edition, documenta’s working title is Learning with AFTER DEVELOPING, in parallel to the galleries’ exhibition,
Athens, exactly because its artistic director, the Polish curator SP-Arte, in this April edition, will create a new artistic curatorship
Adam Szymczyk went to live in Greece, where the show is called Repertório (Repertoire). This novelty will contemplate
being conceived. the production of both Brazilian and foreign artists with “solid”
“The idea of documenta 14, which is bi-local, shared and split between careers, as defined by the curator Jacopo Crivelli Visconti.
Athens (where the exhibit becomes a guest) and Kassel (its place The intention, he says, is to feature Brazilians artists who
of birth and headquarters since it was created in 1955), came up are less prominent abroad and vice-versa. The selection also
against any intention to reduce the concepts of identity, belonging, follows the criterion of observing the production of artists born
roots and property in a world that is visibly collapsing,” wrote the before the 1950s.
curator in the first edition of “South as a State of Mind”, a four-issue This year, the show features pieces signed by the German Lothar
Greek publication to be released by the documenta throughout the Baumgarten, the Italian Pino Pascali and the British Richard Long.
duration of the event. In the section dedicated to the Brazilians, Mario Cravo Neto,
This type of action – establishing partnerships – underlies the Rubem Valentim and Guilherme Vaz will be present. Visconti
conception of documenta’s current edition. In its website, for instance, highlights, from the set, the work of Baumgarten, who produced
the videos of the collective of Syrian filmmakers Abounaddara are pieces from journeys across Brazil, more specifically the Amazon.
being posted. They have produced over 300 pieces since 2015, which The space the show occupies, the curator says, “is quite
are available on their pages on Facebook and Vimeo. conventional from the architectural point of view, because the
In Athens, despite the mysteries surrounding the organization of the idea was to perform the most fluid transition possible between
exhibition and the artists to be featured (around one hundred), it is the fair and Repertório.” He also says he has been working with
known that many spaces in the city will be occupied by the program, SP-Arte for some years with similar curatorships. “For a long
including the Kunsthalle Athena cultural center, directed by Marina time I’ve had the idea to introduce a section that is more focused
Fokidis, head of documenta’s Greek office. on history, to contribute to what I consider to be an institutional
Since its creation, the show is held for one hundred days. The and formative role that the fair has been playing in the Brazilian
exhibition was conceived as a reaction to the Degenerate Art panorama,” he explained to ARTE!Brasileiros.
Exhibition organized by Hitler as a way to demonize modern art.
Thus, the documenta appeared as the “museum of a hundred days” OTHER NOVELTIES
and intended to redress modern art in the decimated Germany of the Twenty national and foreign galleries will participate, for the
post-Second World War. Since then, its format has been reshaped. first time, in this edition of the fair which, held annually at the
“100 Days – 100 Guests”, for instance, was the way Catherine David, Bienal Pavilion, is considered the most important in the country.
in 1997, found to make the show more lively and dynamic, with daily Among the newcomers are the Taka Ishii galleries, from Japan,
events in its schedule. Now the exhibit spreads beyond the usual and the British White Rainbow, specialized in Japanese art. Both
period and goes on for 163 days – from its launch in April, in Athens, will focus on the Brazilian photography.
through its opening in Kassel on June 10. From Berlin comes the KOW gallery, and from New York,
The exhibition’s boldness is made possible by a mix of factors: first, Cheim&Read, which will feature pieces by Louise Bourgeois,
because its curator and the project he submitted are selected by Lynda Benglis and Joan Mitchell. From Portugal, the first-timers
a team of renowned museum curators and directors, and which are the galleries Francisco Fino, Madragoa and Kubikgallery.
grant autonomy to the organizer. Splitting the show between two In the festival’s opening week, the fair will extend its program into
cities, for instance, was part of Szymczyk’s project and, due to this Galpão VB, in Vila Leopoldina. The partnership with Videobrasil
strategy, he had the support to radically change the conception of results in the show Nada Levarei Quando Morrer, Aqueles que
the documenta, including its duration. me Devem Cobrarei no Inferno (I Will Take Nothing When I Die,
In addition to that, selected four years before the opening of the Those Who Owe Me, I Will Charge in Hell), with a selection of works
show, the curator has enough time to research, develop the projects in video by Brazilian artists central to the contemporary scene.
and involve artists like in no other exhibition. Finally, the sizable For the second time, on April 3 and 4, SP-Arte will also promote
budget, typically of around €20 million, makes it indeed a unique a guided tour around São Paulo’s galleries. The Gallery Night
show in terms of value. program will go through Vila Madalema, in Pinheiros, Itaim and
Although the show is inaugurated in April, its program has already Jardins, districts that concentrate major São Paulo galleries.
started, as Szymczyk sees it, through “South as a State of Mind” This year the fair will also feature, for the third time, the
and the public programs that are being held since 2016, all available performances program (held at Centro Universitário Belas
on the documenta website. The exhibition, as important as it may Artes) and, once again, a section dedicated to design.
be is, thus, one of the several platforms of the event.
1 | LEFT, CARYOTA, ZERBINI (2016), OIL ON PAPER, 106 X 80 CM. TOP, PHOTO BY SHIGEO
1 | EL PARTENÓN DE LIBROS (1983), MARTA MINUJÍN. INSTALLATION WITH CENSORED BOOKS ANZAÏ ON INTERVENTION BY GORDON MATTA-CLARK IN PARIS BUILDING (1975); BOTTOM,
MADE IN BUENOS AIRES, TO BE REASSEMBLED AT DOCUMENTA PHOTOGRAPHY BY EIKOH HOSOE, A PRIVATE LANDSCAPE (1971)

FAIRS SP-ARTE | PAGES 42 AND 43 EXHIBITION SÃO PAULO | PAGES 44 TO 46
A SPACE FOR ILLUSTRIOUS AN EXCEPTIONAL READING

STRANGERS EXHIBITION REVISITS ANITA MALFATTI’S ROLE IN MODERNISM,

POINTING OUT QUALITIES IN HER WORK THAT GO BEYOND THE IMAGE
SP-ARTE INAUGURATES A CURATORSHIP TO PROMOTE WORKS BY OF ARTIST-MARTYR
BRAZILIAN AND FOREIGN ARTISTS WHO WERE BORN BEFORE 1950
BY GUSTAVO FIORATTI BY MARIA HIRSZMAN

Book_ARTE_38_POR.indb 107 3/3/17 9:52 PM