The 2013 edition of the Contemporary Art Festival celebrates an important moment in the history of the biennial show. It is the three-decade anniversary of Brazil’s sole international contemporary festival whose platform combines exhibitions, public activities and awards. As in past editions, a comprehensive show gives voice to art from the Southern scene. Alongside this competitive show, titled Southern Panoramas, the highlight of this year is 30 Years, a show spanning Videobrasil’s three decades of experimentation and risk-taking since 1983.
30 Years
Bill Viola, Sandra Kogut, Ali Cherri, Walid Raad, Chelpa Ferro, Peter Greenaway, Tunga, Waly Salomão, Rosangela Rennó, Cao Guimarães, Marcel Odenbach, Fernando Meirelles, Rafael França, Akram Zaatari, Tadeu Jungle, Eder Santos, Marina Abramovic, Kenneth Anger, Gianni Totti, Derek Jarman, Ximena Cuevas… A vast constellation of names have composed this trajectory over the course of three decades. 30 Years is similar to a large installation in which our history and its characters are introduced from various perspectives, akin to a large palimpsest. Throughout the 17 editions held thus far, the deep-seated relationships between Brazilian video art, television, history, and the broader context of the visual arts in Brazil and the world will be approached in an encompassing environment in which a polyphony of artists, works of art, art shows, curators, critics, and audiences paint a panorama of a three-decade-long trajectory. Said trajectory intermingles with the history of video in Brazil and, afterwards, with the redefining of the South within the global contemporary art landscape, reverberating views that dissonate from the Western hegemony.
To cast this comprehensive gaze over our 30 Years, over 200 monitors will show approximately 20 hours’ worth of videos especially edited from out of a total of 5,000 hours viewed. Fragments of a huge program that compose a bonafide Babel Tower. These contents are interspersed with a few highlights and tributes in which key characters of our history become presenters of the installation, as they comment on or narrate pivotal moments. The sound ambience is provided by the Brazilian collective O Grivo, which remains on the cutting edge of audio investigations within current art.
30 Years invites us to step into the history of Videobrasil. Far from adopting a linear, conformist view of history, the installation entices, summons, and points out directions from which to comprehend the Festival’s trajectory in a synchronous fashion. Anchored by a massive effort to add to the collection all of the pieces shown in these 30 years, the installation also includes a media library—open to the public—comprising virtually all of the content shown in the 17 editions, since 1983. This space for prospecting, research, and immersion will also stage lectures, debates, and audience programs’ activities.
Stay up-to-date
We will soon release further details about the Festival, including the Southern Panoramas competitive show, the TV series which is a part of the Festival, the Public Programs, and the 30th anniversary celebration publications. Register on our website to keep yourself posted.
18th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil
30 Years + Southern Panoramas
Curator-general: Solange Farkas. Curators: Eduardo de Jesus, Fernando Oliva, Julia Rebouças. Educational curator: Sabrina Moura
November 6, 2013 through February 2, 2014
Sesc Pompeia + CineSesc
São Paulo, Brasil
www.videobrasil.org.br
