Bienal de São Paulo

Details

How can bodies in movement choreograph the possible, within the impossible? The 35th Bienal de São Paulo proposal emerges as a mutual project around multiple possibilities to choreograph the impossible. It is an invitation to radical imaginations about the unknown, or even about what figures as im/possible.

Fundação Bienal de São Paulo announces the title and theme of the 35th Bienal de São Paulo – choreographies of the impossible, which will take place from September to December 2023. The theme written by the collective of Diane Lima, Grada Kilomba, Hélio Menezes and Manuel Borja-Villel introduces the concepts and movements critical to the next Bienal de São Paulo, the biggest contemporary art exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere and the second-oldest in the world after the Venice Biennale.

Choreographies of the impossible enunciate a space of experimentation – open to the dances of the unimaginable – that embodies movements capable of transforming what is apparently non-existent into existent. This idea of choreography is based on the enigmatic nature of the artistic fact and, thus, on everything that is neither worn out nor evident, but rather on what can be named as secret, mystery or as the infinite.

The Bienal de São Paulo will bring together diverse artistic practices from locations outside the hegemonic circuit. This year’s edition will spotlight an unprecedentedly broad spectrum of artists from different parts of the world and will distinguish itself in its diversity of artistic media, with several participants coming from the worlds of dance, film and music.

Visual identity and communication
The development of communication materials takes on a process-based character, including graphic components that transform and densify over the different moments of the project. The visual identity for this edition features the commissioned work of the artist Nontsikelelo Mutiti, a renowned visual artist and educator born in Zimbabwe.

Educational publication
The first movement of the educational publication of the 35th Bienal de São Paulo consists of pedagogical material developed with the aim of bringing the public closer to contemporary art and encouraging reflection on the themes addressed in the exhibition.

Curatorial council
Composed of four professionals with diverse backgrounds and profiles, the council aims to complement the research of the edition's curatorial collective from their own areas of expertise, in a productive space of exchange and dialogue. Its members are Omar Berrada, Sandra Benites, Sol Henaro and Thomas Jean Lax.

35th Bienal de São Paulo – choreographies of the impossible
Curators: Diane Lima, Grada Kilomba, Hélio Menezes, and Manuel Borja-Villel
September 6 – December 10 2023
Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Sunday: 10 am – 7 pm (last entry: 6:30 pm)
Thursday, Sat: 10 am – 9 pm (last entry: 8:30 pm)
Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion
Ibirapuera Park