On May 23rd and 24th BIENALSUR 2019 sets foot in the Province of Tucumán, with a vibrant exhibition proposal at numerous venues, featuring exceptional artists such as Marie Orensanz and Nicola Constantino from Argentina and Katsuhiko Hibino from Japan, among many others. This is a new section of the singular cartography of the second edition of the biennial, which offers, from May to November, simultaneous exhibitions by 400 artists at over one hundred venues, including museums, cultural centres and iconic public spaces of 43 cities of twenty countries, all free of charge.
BIENALSUR 2019, the second edition of the greatest cultural event from Argentina to the world, sets foot in the Province of Tucumán - a significant place in the foundation and organization of Argentina - to turn every corner of this territory into a array of artistic proposals to be showcased at different venues, with the participation of essential figures of the art scene such as Marie Orensanz, Nicola Costantino and the Japanese Katsuhiko Hibino, among many others.
With the support of the Ente Cultural de Tucumán, the north of Argentina will then be flooded with diverse artistic proposals for all audiences and with free admission. The biennial thus continues connecting cities from all the continents through art and technology, upon the basis of an unprecedented cartography that will be unfolded simultaneously in 43 cities of twenty countries, with exhibitions by 400 artists at more than one hundred venues, including museums, cultural centres and iconic public spaces of each city.
Organized by the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF), BIENALSUR will kick off in Tucumán on May 23rd at 5:00pm, at the MUNT – Museo de la Universidad Nacional de Tucumán Juan B. Terán, with a talk entitled "Transmodality, science and the poetics of the senses", with the participation of artists Sebastián Tedesco (ARG), Bruno Merz (ARG) and Mateo Carabajal (ARG). The biennial aims to turn each place into a space for reflection and this event, an action conceived as part of the programme, seeks to analyse the intersections between senses, scents and emotions.
One of the unmissable events in Tucumán is the monumental sculpture "We Have the Power to Choose", by artist Marie Orensanz (ARG), who goes back to her conceptual universe related to the meaning of things, of language and of the infinite. This work will be showcased at the Juan B. Terán Cultural Center as of May 24th as a permanent exhibit.
The artistic itinerary continues at 7:00pm on the same day at the emblematic Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Timoteo E. Navarro (9 de Julio 44), with the exhibition “Another She”, in which Nicola Costantino will be presenting a series of pieces based on characters from the history of cinema and famous works of art embodied by the artist herself.
"There are a myriad of diverse references, and many of the works evoke images largely stored in the collective unconscious due to their wide circulation. There are also references to renowned 20th-century photographers such as Man Ray, Diane Arbus, Edward Steichen, Andrè Kertész, Richard Avedon and Grete Stern, among others", says Fernando Farina, the curator of this exhibition, which has the support of the French Embassy and can be visited until June 23rd.
On May 24th the same museum will open "In the First Person", a visual and sound intervention created for BIENALSUR and curated by Carlota Beltrame, with the participation of artists Gaspar Núñez and Juan Carlos Iramain. This intervention represents a dialogue between pieces from the sculptor’s collection and the work of the young artist from Tucumán Gaspar Núñez, as they are permeated by the light and the sound of the voices telling their own stories. .
The Spilimbergo hall of the same museum will host the exhibition "Heroines", by a group of artists such as Voluspa Jarpa (CHL), Claudia Casarino (PRY) and Stephanie Pommeret (FRA), among others. It mostly consists of pieces from the MUNTREF (Museum of the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero) collection, a selection that seeks to capture the singular dimension that distinguishes the role of women, from the historic images of the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo to the repeatedly revisited figure of Evita, among other tropes.
What would a film to just listen to be like? What would it mean to look at a sound composition? What would a text smell like? Based on these questions, at 8:00pm on May 24th the MUNT – Museum of the Universidad Nacional de Tucumán Juan B. Terán - will host the exhibition "Between Senses”, which brings together a large group of artists who engage in practices related to visual arts and poetically articulate scientific interests and methodical research.
“’Between Senses’ proposes an upside-down reading, a subversion of languages and supports”, says curator Benedetta Casini (ITA) about the work by Cristina Banfi (BRA), Cecilia Catalín (ARG), Camila Maya (COL), Ana Maria Morillo (COL), Duygu Nazli Akova (TUR), Maria Jesús Roman (CHL)), Joaquín Aras (ARG) and Eugenia Calvo (ARG), among other artists.
In the month of July Japanese artist Katsuhiko Hibino will present a new stage of the Turn/BIENALSUR project at the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Timoteo E. Navarro. On this occasion, he will be working along with the indigenous Quilmes community residing in the Calchaquíes Valleys of Tucumán. This artistic experience fosters the exchange of native knowledge between different groups through workshops and activities, which will bring about an inexorable transformation among their participants.
After its official launch in Tierra del Fuego, “the south of the south”, on May 19th and 20th and the openings in the Province of Tucumán on May 23rd and 24th, BIENALSUR will continue to present the most diverse manifestations of contemporary art through its unique cartography with successive openings on June 5th and 6th in Rosario, June 8th and 9th in Switzerland and June 13th in the Province of Córdoba. In the week from June 22nd to 29th the biennial will reach its peak of intensity with a varied and attractive agenda of activities in the city of Buenos Aires. The BIENALSUR programme will continue at one hundred venues from all over the world until November.
In the words of Diana Wechsler, the Artistic and Academic Director of BIENASLUR, “Through contemporary art, BIENALSUR simultaneously connects 42 cities of 20 countries and brings together over 400 artists and curators from the five continents. The biennial is conceived upon the basis of the establishment of a global network of associative collaboration that erases distances and borders and upholds singularity in diversity”.
In the words of Aníbal Jozami, the General Director of BIENALSUR and Rector of the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF), “BIENALSUR conceives culture as a vehicle of integration between countries, a collaborative network that erases temporal and spatial borders. Its mission is to bring contemporary artistic manifestations to the most diverse audiences”.