What is BIENALSUR?

BIENALSUR is the International Contemporary Art Biennial of South America. Its first edition took place in 2016 with its Sur Global meetings - a platform for reflection on contemporary art -, and in 2017 with actions and exhibitions held in 84 venues, 32 cities and 16 countries. The second edition is being held simultaneously in 112 venues, 45 cities and 21 countries, between May and November 2019.

It is organized by an Argentine public university – the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF). Its Rector, Aníbal Jozami, is the General Director and Diana Wechsler, its Director of Arts and Culture, the Artistic and Academic Director.

BIENALSUR simultaneously connects the public from the five continents. In 2017, this platform counted with the participation of over 400 artists and curators, who are expected to be outnumbered in 2019. The exhibitions are held in different museums, cultural centres, buildings and iconic areas of the public space. The biennial seeks to establish a global network of institutional associative collaboration that erases distances and borders and upholds singularity in diversity.

With an unprecedented modality, BIENALSUR includes works and projects selected as a result of international open calls. The call for projects by artists and curators who wish to participate in BIENALSUR 2019 closed on June 30th and 5025 proposals from 76 countries were submitted. The selection will be conducted by an International Curatorial Committee made up of prestigious professionals from different backgrounds. The shortlisted projects will be announced in the end of August 2018.

With its own cartography, a specific territory and itinerary, BIENALSUR reaches out to an expanded South America on a virtually planetary scale gathering artists and curators from the five continents. With MUNTREF (Museo de la Inmigración and Centro de Arte Contemporáneo) in the city of Buenos Aires as its Km 0 marker, the first edition went as far as Km 18,370 in Tokyo, Japan.

Who is in charge of this project?

The professionals in charge of this project are especially dedicated to managing public spaces for formation and development, predominantly in the area of art and culture. BIENALSUR is organized by the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF) of the Argentine Republic. Its Rector, Aníbal Jozami, is the General Director and Diana Wechsler, the Artistic and Academic Director.

Aníbal Jozami

/ General Director of BIENALSUR

Aníbal Jozami is a sociologist specialized in international relations, a businessman and an art collector. He is the Rector of the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero and the Director of the museums of the same university. In 1993, Jozami founded the Foro del Sur Foundation, a nongovernmental organization whose mission is to gather political, business and academic leaders to formulate state policies for South America. In 2015 the culture ministers of the South American countries appointed him to organize, promote and direct the International Biennial of Contemporary Art of South America, BIENALSUR.

Diana Wechsler

/ Artistic and Academic Director of BIENALSUR

Diana Wechsler holds a Ph.D. in Art History and is a CONICET head researcher. She directs the "Dr. Norberto Griffa" Research Institute and the Master’s Degree in Visual Arts and Curatorial Studies of the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero. She is the Deputy Director of the museums of the same university. She is a Chair Professor of Argentine Art at the UBA and has received fellowships and subsidies, such as the Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Getty Foundation. She directs national and international research projects and has received awards for Curatorial Studies and Art Essays from the International Association of Art Critics and for Scientific Production from the Argentine Senate.