Upcoming
Ali Cherri
Entitled “Memory is an Editing Station”—a phrase taken from a poem by Waly Salomão (1943–2003)—Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil reaches its 22nd edition in 2023, after being postponed for almost two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Curated by Raphael Fonseca, from Brazil, and Renée Akitelek Mboya, from Kenya, the Biennial also celebrates the fortieth anniversary of Videobrasil, initially devoted to video, and which has expanded over the decades to encompass a broad range of artistic languages.
In this celebration, “it is, therefore, necessary not only to reflect on time and the many conceptions of memory, but also to revisit the importance of video in these four decades,” write the curators. It is also worth remembering that in contemporaneity the possibilities for image editing were transformed, and have become more agile and within reach of our fingers in a range of technological devices we use every day.
Far beyond these particular “editing stations,” the 22nd Biennial seeks works that address collective memories, acts of remembrance and forgetfulness that build historical and social narratives, related to peoples, nations and geographies. “What are the ethical boundaries of a cut? Who holds the power to do so? How to forge the memory of what we didn’t see or feel in our bodies? What are the limits of memory?”, the curators ask.
Sammy Baloji
Titled choreographies of the impossible and bringing together diverse artistic practices from different parts of the world, the 35th Bienal de São Paulo “wants to build spaces and times of perception that challenge the rigidity of western time linearity. What we see in this choreographic horizon are the strategies and policies of the movement that these practices have been creating in order to imagine worlds that confront the ideas of freedom, justice and equality as impossible achievements”, say Diane Lima, Grada Kilomba, Hélio Menezes and Manuel Borja-Villel, the curatorial collective of the exhibition.
For the curators, “the impossible refers to the political, legal, economic and social realities in which these artistic and social practices are set, but also to the way in which these practices find alternatives to circumvent the effects of these same contexts. The term choreography also helps us reflect on how the idea of moving freely remains at the core of a neoliberal conception of freedom. In line with the very paradox created by the title, we seek not to walk around a motif or to place thematic cores, but rather to make room for a continuous dance which we can choreograph together, even in difference.”
Current
James Webb
After the first edition, built around sculptures staged to “inhabit” and bring to life the territory of Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the second devoted to the views of a young generation of creators on the village, the third International Biennial of Saint-Paul de Vence has chosen to be inspired by the universe and symbolism of birds. This choice was made by the two curators of this open-air exhibition: Ludovic Delalande and Claire Staebler. Its title does not forget that the poet Jacques Prévert was a resident and a “considerable” passer-by of this village. These are his words “Au hasard des oiseaux” (At the chance of the birds) which invite us to discover, to feel and to meet twenty works of twelve artists who are as many messengers reminding us, more than ever, that it is profitable for the man to live with the light and the beauty of the flight of the birds.
James Webb
At the invitation of Reiner Michalke, the artistic director of the Monheim Triennale, the curatorial team of Kathrin Jentjens and Frank Schulte has been working on exclusive collaborations with international sound artists since 2020. The works, most of which are site-specific to Monheim am Rhein, are presented for several weeks in public space. Most of the artists have already been to Monheim several times to develop their ideas and test their feasibility.
Sammy Baloji
“What does it mean to be ‘an agent of change’? (…) Over the past nine months, in hundreds of conversations, text messages, Zoom calls and meetings – stated Lesley Lokko – the question of whether exhibitions of this scale — both in terms of carbon and cost — are justified, has surfaced time and again. In May last year, I referred to the exhibition several times as ‘a story’, a narrative unfolding in space. Today, my understanding has changed. An architecture exhibition is both a moment and a process. It borrows its structure and format from art exhibitions, but it differs from art in critical ways which often go unnoticed. Aside from the desire to tell a story, questions of production, resources and representation are central to the way an architecture exhibition comes into the world, yet are rarely acknowledged or discussed. From the outset, it was clear that the essential gesture of The Laboratory of the Future would be ‘change’.”
James Webb
