The Fundação Bienal, which organizes the São Paulo Biennale, has announced the 119 artists who will participate in the thirty-fifth edition of the event. Organized by art historian and former director of Reina Sofía Manuel Borja Villel, artist Grada Kilomba, independent curator Diane Lima and anthropologist Hélio Menezes, the Biennale is titled “Choreographies of the Impossible” and features black, indigenous and non-white artists and artists from the South. The quartet, in a statement released last April, described this iteration as “a joint project around multiple possibilities to choreograph the impossible. As the title already suggests,” they continued, “it’s an invitation to radical imaginings about the unknown, or even about what appears to be impossible.”
In a new statement released today, the curators affirmed that “participants in this Biennale defy the impossible in its most varied and incalculable forms. They live in impossible contexts, develop circumvention strategies, cross boundaries and escape the impossibilities of the world in which they live. They deal with total violence, the impossibility of living in complete freedom, inequalities, and their artistic expressions are transformed by the very impossibilities of our time.
In a separate statement, José Olympio da Veiga Pereira, president of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, presented the Biennale as “a historical milestone that transcends the boundaries of the impossible”. Pereira further asserted that the exhibit “will become an enduring legacy, inspiring future generations and redefining the boundaries of what is possible in artistic expression.”
The event is set to open on September 6 at the Ciccillo Matarazzo pavilion, with a new design by Brazilian architecture firm Vão. A full list of participating artists is below.
Igshaan Adams
Ricardo Alexio
Kamal Aljafari
Mounira Al-Solh
Sidney Amaral
Amador and Jr. Segurança Patrimonial Ltda.
Gloria Anzaldua
Deborah Anzinger
Diego Araúja and Laís Machado
Emanoel Araujo
Archivo of Memoria Trans (AMT)
Elena Asin
Sammy Baloji
Denilson Baniwa
Yto Barrada
Arthur Bispo do Rosario
Anna Boghiguian
Marilyn Boror Bor
M’barek Bouhchichi
Pauline Boudry and Renate Lorenz
Nadir Bouhmouch and Soumeya Ait Ahmed
Ubirajara Ferreira Braga
Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro
stanley brown
Carlos Bunga
Margaret Taylor Goss Burroughs
Edgar Calel
Cabello/Carcelle
Rolando Castellón
Elizabeth Catlett
Elda Cerrato
Benvenuto Chavajay
Manuel Chavajay
Ayllu Collective
Rommulo Vieira Conceicao
Cozinha Ocupação July 9
Julien Creuzet
Aurora Cursino
Denise Ferreira da Silva
Luiz de Abreu
Nino from Elche
Stella do Patrocinio
Catherine Dunham
Torkwase Dyson
Carmezia Emiliano
Inaicyra Falcao
flo6x8
Front 3 of Fevereiro
Ellen Gallagher
Rosa Gauditano
Amos Gitai
Sonia Gomes
Patricia Gomez and Maria Jesús González
Group of Investigation in Art and Politics (GIAP)
Ayrson Heráclito and Tigana Santana
George Herriman
Nikau Hindin
Morzaniel Ramari
January Jano
Geraldine Javier
Kapwani Kiwanga
Wifredo Lam
Simone Leigh
Daniel Lie
Raquel Lima
Daniel Lind Ramos
Duane Linklater
All the living and the dead
Ibrahim Mahama
MAHKU
Rubiane Maia
Sarah Maldoror
Malinche
Xica Manicongo
Guadalupe Maravilla
Leopold Mendez
Melchor Maria Mercado
Santu Mofokeng
Aline Motta
Nontsikelelo Mutiti
Senga Nengudi
Eustaquio Neves
Bouchra Ouizguen
Rosana Paulin
Ana Pi and Taata Kwa Nkisi Mutá Imê
David Pontes and Wallace Ferreira
Jose Guadalupe Posada
Quilombo Cafundo
Does Rawls
Jorge Ribalta
Marlon Riggs
Philippe Rizk
Jesus Ruiz Durand
Citra Sasmita
Sauna Lésbica by Malu Avelar with Ana Paula Mathias, Anna Turra, Bárbara Esmenia and Marta Supernova
Anne Marie Schneider
Judith Scott
Tejal Shah
Ahlam Shibli
Dayanita Singh
Ceija Stojka
Tadaskia
Kidlat Tahimik
Greater 4 Rojo
Largest NN
Francois Toledo
Trinh T. Minh-ha
Gabriel Gentil Tukano
Rubem Valentine
Juan van der Hamen and Leon
Profane Ventura
Luana Vitra
Nadal Walcott
Leilah Weinraub
Charles White
John Woodrow Wilson
Ilze Wolff
Aida Harika Yanomami, Edmar Tokorino Yanomami and Roseane Yariana Yanomami
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