Ushuaia, the southernmost point of the planet, was the setting of the opening of BIENALSUR 2019, the second edition of the International Biennial of Contemporary Art of South America, the most important cultural event from Argentina to the world, which gathers works by 400 artists at over 100 venues in 43 cities of more than 20 countries.
"BIENALSUR was conceived to change the mainstream of culture, to exert its influence through the minds of the south," said Aníbal Jozami, General Director of BIENALSUR and Rector of the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF), on the occasion of the opening ceremony held at the foot of the Andes by Bahía Escondida, one of the most impressive places where nature and man accompany each other.
The first exhibition of BIENALSUR 2019, “Flags of the End of the World”, opened in the same location, at the old aero club of the city. It is part of a project by French artist Christian Boltanski that relates him, exclusively in that site, to Voluspa Jarpa from Chile and Magdalena Jitrik from Argentina. The hoisting of the three flags came minutes after the healer Lucia Toconas performed a saumada - the traditional act through which the native peoples wished good omens – in the middle of a concert by the OIANT (Orchestra of Authochthonous Instruments and New Technologies of UNTREF).
During the opening ceremony, Diana Wechsler, Artistic and Academic Director of the Biennial, pointed out, "BIENALSUR is indiscipline and therefore creates new cartographies, erases borders and thinks with artists between the local and the global. This biennial seeks to turn the space of art into a space for reflection, a place for the emergence of ideas and proposals aimed at offering other configurations of the contemporary world”.
In turn, the Secretary of Culture of Tierra del Fuego, Gonzalo Zamora, said that Tierra del Fuego is part of the BIENALSUR circuit for the first time, with six exhibitions in Ushuaia and Río Grande. He remarked that Tierra del Fuego is the only Argentine province that does not have sovereignty over 100% of its territory and, in connection with the opening of an exhibition on the topic of the usurpation of the Malvinas Islands, he drew attention to how hard it is for the people from Tierra del Fuego to reflect upon what the islands mean and the lack of power over them.
Art and Territory is one of the exhibitions that opened on the first day of BIENALSUR 2019. Held at the Museo del Fin del Mundo-Antigua Casa de Gobierno, it features video installations by artists, including Jean-Christophe Norman, along with Mariana Telleria, the Argentine representative in Venice.
Argentine artist Pablo La Padula presents “The Gaze that Builds Worlds” at the Museo del Fin del Mundo- Ex Banco Nación.
The Museo Pensar Malvinas hosts “Two, Three, Many”, by Esteban Álvarez, also from Argentina.
An action focused on postal art connects artists, photographers and spectators at La Última Bita, a traditional space of the city, where it is possible to send BIENALSUR postcards to the rest of the world.
The residents of Ushuaia attended the activities of the first day of the BIENALSUR openings, which concluded with an intervention on the façade of the old Government House and a performance of lights, sound and dance by the Electroarte collective.
On Monday 21st the Museo Fueguino de Arte - Centro Cultural Yaganes, in the city of Rio Grande, presented "Landscapes between Landscapes", an exhibition gathering works by Angelika Markul, Lia Chaia, Gabriela Golder, Matilde Marín, Dora Longo Bahía, Gustavo Groh, Carla Zaccagnini, Graciela Taquini and Berna Reale.
The agenda of BIENALSUR openings will continue on May 24th in the province of Tucumán, on June 5th and 6th in Rosario, on June 8th in Lens and Crans-Montana, Switzerland, and on June 12th in the province of Córdoba. It will then reach out to other countries in the rest of the world until the month of November.
