Art News

Olafur Eliasson at the 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC Videobrasil

17th International
Contemporary Art
Festival SESC_Videobrasil

Olafur Eliasson at the 17th
International Contemporary Art Festival
SESC_Videobrasil

Southern Panoramas:
accepting submissions until March 10

www.videobrasil.org.br
sescsp.org.br

Olafur Eliasson at the 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil

The 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil, to be held in São Paulo, Brazil, later this year will feature Olafur Eliasson’s first solo exhibition in Latin America. The show comprises a series of installations by the Danish-Icelandic artist created or adapted especially for three venues with a strong architectural identity: SESC Pompeia, a factory recreated by Italian architect Lina Bo Bardi; Pinacoteca do Estado, a historic building renovated by Pritzker Prize winner Paulo Mendes da Rocha; and the recently opened SESC Belenzinho.

The exhibition is a further statement on the recent changes in the Festival focus, according to general curator Solange Farkas, the president of Associação Cultural Videobrasil. Starting from the present Festival, Southern Panoramas competitive exhibition, once devoted exclusively to video and video art, opens itself to all contemporary artistic manifestations. The enlarged scope is reflected in the new name of the Festival, now aimed at all contemporary practices.

“The change is not casual,” says Solange Farkas. “The Festival has been transforming itself to keep up with the changing role that audiovisual languages play in contemporary art production. Thus, also, the choice of an artist who deals with issues brought by science, the moving image, and technology, but whose practices go way beyond all language limitations and whose work imposes itself as a sensorial experience accessible to all audiences.”

Olafur Eliasson’s exhibition is curated by Jochen Volz and will open on September 30, along with Southern Panoramas exhibitions and screenings. The 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil will be held at SESC venues until December 2011.

Southern Panoramas: accepting submissions until March 10

The 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil is accepting submissions for the Southern Panoramas competitive exhibition up until March 10, 2011.

Starting with this Festival, Southern Panoramas will accept video, installation, performance, printed objects, and other artistic experiments produced from May 2009 onwards by visual artists born in Latin America, the Caribbean, Africa, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania.

The selected works will compete for a money prize of USD 24,000 (gross value) and eight artist residency prizes, granted in partnership with institutions in Latin America, Europe, and Asia.

Further details on schedules, requirements, and criteria for the competition, along with the entry form, can be found at sescsp.org.br.

Associação Cultural Videobrasil: an international
reference for contemporary art from the South

Associação Cultural Videobrasil is an institution geared towards the production and dissemination of information on contemporary art. The SESC_Videobrasil Festival has become established as an international reference for expressions of contemporary art from the South.

In partnership with SESC São Paulo (www.sescsp.org.br), a hybrid Brazilian organization that operates in the fields of culture and socioeducational leisure, Videobrasil has also been involved in the production of large contemporary art exhibitions, such as Sophie Calle – Take Care of Yourself (São Paulo and Salvador, 2009) and Joseph Beuys – We Are the Revolution (São Paulo and Salvador, 2010).

Also in partnership with SESC, Videobrasil maintains one of the most important video art collections in the Southern Hemisphere; an online data bank on contemporary art; a residency program; a series of documentaries about artists; and an annual publication on art. Nam June Paik, Bill Viola, Gary Hill, Marina Abramovic, The Atlas Group, William Kentridge, Kendell Gears, Marcel Odenbach, Kenneth Anger, Coco Fusco, and Peter Greenaway are among the artists featured in its exhibitions, publications, documentaries, and festivals.

Videobrasil is directed by Solange Farkas, a curator with an international career spanning twenty-five years. She created the Videobrasil Festival in 1982 and was the curator of exhibitions such as La Mirada Discreta: Marcel Odenbach & Robert Cahen (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2006) and Suspensão e Fluidez(ARCO, Madrid, 2007), by Eder Santos. As the director of the Museum of Modern Art in Salvador, Bahia, from 2007 to 2011, she promoted exhibitions of artists like Chelpa Ferro, Thomaz Farkas, and Mario Cravo Neto. She has been a jury member for the Nam June Paik Award for the last five years.

Please visit our website for further information on the 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil and other Videobrasil projects.

Associação Cultural Videobrasil
Av. Imperatriz Leopoldina, 1150
Vila Leopoldina, São Paulo – SP – Brasil
CEP: 05305-002
Tel.: +55 (11) 3645 0516
www.videobrasil.org.br