Over the last days, the city of Buenos Aires has become the epicentre of BIENALSUR 2019, with the opening of more than 30 exhibitions by 100 artists from various countries, who present their works in museums, cultural centres and iconic urban spaces that work jointly in collaboration with the biennial. One of the highlights of the programme was the opening of the KM 0 of the biennial, where the shows will be open until the end of the year. Additionally, further openings will take place in July in Asunción, San Miguel de Tucumán, Lima, Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, Rio de Janeiro, Santiago de Chile, Neuquén, Mendoza and Bogotá.
Neither wind nor rain deterred the large audience that arrived at the former Immigrants’ Hotel, the venue of MUNTREF Contemporary Art Centre, which until the end of the year will feature pieces by artists such Martha Rosler from the United States, Michelangelo Pistoletto from Italy, Rosângela Rennó from Brazil, Eduardo Basualdo from Argentina, Hassan Bourkia from Morocco, Edith Dekyndt from Germany, as well as works by Rumanian collector and filmmaker Marin Karmitz and a great deal more, thus recreating the spirit of a space that welcomed immigrants from all over the world at the beginning of the 20th century.
Next, there was an aerial dance and lights show along with a toast that expressed the best wishes for this biennial, which will be held simultaneously until November in 45 cities of 20 countries and is organized by the Universidad Nacional de Tres de Febrero (UNTREF).
JULY IN BIENALSUR 2019
The second edition of the International Contemporary Art Biennial of South America - set apart by its simultaneity and joint collaborative work in each venue - features new openings in July in Asunción (Paraguay), San Miguel de Tucumán, Lima (Peru), Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Santiago de Chile (Chile), Neuquén, Mendoza and Bogotá (Colombia).
On July 5th the Museo Provincial de Bellas Artes Timoteo Navarro of San Miguel de Tucumán opens the show “Turn/BIENALSUR”, with works that resulted from the process of aboriginal knowledge exchange between Japanese artist Katsuhiko Hibino and members of the Quilmes community. In turn, an activation will take place on July 8th with the participation of Shogo Nunoshita and Mai Sone, artists from Hibino’s team, who along with Alejandra Mizrahi and Paulo Vera (BIENALSUR workshop facilitators) will conduct their first workshop with free admission.
The exhibition “QR: Between the Ancestral and the Future”, a project by Patricia Hakim, opens on July 6th at 7:00pm at the Centro de Artes Visuales Museo del Barro - Asunción, Paraguay. It consists in an invitation to scan a QR code and unexpectedly find a beautiful video of artisans using ancestral techniques, an idea concerning the attempt to blend seemingly opposite worlds.
On the same day, the Fundación Migliorisi of Asunción opens the sound installation “Border Music” by Argentine artist Edgardo Rudnitzky. It is a long, straight undecorated metal structure that goes through the space. Some rustic machines from old musical boxes placed every 5 metres on this structure move their gears to the beat of a small engine. The nails of this mechanism attempt - not always successfully - to pluck the wires that slowly run from one part of the piece to the other, which results in random, grim, unexpected sounds.
On July 12th at 7:00pm, the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos - Museo de Arte de San Marcos of Lima (Peru) presents the exhibition “ (Re)Tacking the South”, by Chilean artists N3TO, Fernanda López, Loreto Carmona and Felipe Lavin, curated by Inés Ortega-Márquez (Spain). It is an instalative project by four young Chilean artists trained in the first two decades of the 21st century, who reflect from different perspectives upon the region and the contemporary problems of the Southern Cone.
On the same day, the Peruvian North American Cultural Institute features “Art and Territory”, in which visual artists such as Anna Bella Geiger (BRA), Lia Chaia (BRA), Gabriela Golder (ARG), Dora Longo Bahia, (BRA), Carla Zaccagnini (ARG), and Matilde Marín (ARG), among others, look at various phenomena in the landscape from a critical standpoint.
In turn, the associated exhibition “Giving Shape to Time. Contemporary Glances at Pre-Columbian Pottery” can be seen at MAC - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo. Curated by Giuliana Vidarte, the work of the artists gathered in this exhibition updates the Pre-Columbian imaginary and tropes, as well as the original narratives of various communities, from contemporary perspectives that reflect upon our conception of history, time, and mythology.
The exhibition “Figurative Traditions” opens on July 13th at Centro Cultural de Bellas Artes, Lima, with the BIENALSUR curatorial work of Diana Wechsler (ARG). On the basis of a selection from the collection of tracings of the Escuela Nacional Superior Autónoma de Bellas Artes del Perú (ENSABAP), a set of contemporary works will be exhibited in the hall in a tense interaction with the traditional pieces.
The exhibition “Exquisite Corpses”, which opens on July 13th at Arte x Arte – Fundación Alfonso y Luz Castillo of Buenos Aires, features works by Argentine artists Nicola Costantino, Leandro Katz, Daniel Santoro, Daniel Ontiveros, Martín Weber, Graciela Taquini, Noemí Escandell and Lucas Turturro. With the BIENALSUR curatorial work of Fernando Farina, the show looks into necromania - examples of post-mortal revenge and humiliation, as was the case of Evita, Juan Domingo Perón and Ernesto “Che” Guevara, and the vexation inflicted upon the victims of state terrorism during the last military-civic dictatorship.
Also on July 13th, at the MAR - Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de la Provincia de Buenos Aires, Mar del Plata, “Marathon” presents a visit to and a dialogue with the works done in collaboration between Jorge Macchi and Edgardo Rudnitzky. The artists will exhibit for the first time the result of their joint work since 2003, including videos, video installations, sound installations, and performances. Curated by Sebastián Tedesco and Mariano Luna, the event will take place from 12:30pm to 3:00pm, and from 3:30pm to 6:00pm.
On July 17th the Getulio Vargas Foundation of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) will present "Draw me a flag", an original project of the Fondation Cartier pour l'art contemporain, based on an idea of Christian Boltanski’s. It consists of a myriad of flags designed by artists, scientists, philosophers and friends of the Parisian Cartier Foundation, who have collaborated with its program over the years and are now part of a strong community. This installation in Brazil will feature flags designed by Alessandro Mendini (ITA), Anna Mariani (BRA), Beatriz Milhazes (BRA), Bernard Piffaretti (FRA), Charwei Tsai (TWN), Claudia Andujar (BRA), Clemente Juliuz (PRY), Davi Kopenawa (BRA), Didier Marcel (FRA), Fei Dawei (CHI), Franck Scurt (FRA), Gao Shan (CHI), Hélène Delprat (FRA), Hu Liu (CHI), Hugues Reip (FRA), Iran (dessinateur Huni Kui) (BRA), Jean-Baptiste Bruant (FRA), Joseca (PRY), Leslie Wayne (GER), Macha Makeïeff (FRA), Marc Couturier (FRA), Marc Newson (AUS), Marie Darrieussecq (FRA), Michel Temman (FRA), Moebius (FRA), Monique Frydman (FRA), Nobuyoshi Araki (JPN), Osvaldo Pitoe (PRY), Rinko Kawauchi (JPN), Roland Lehoucq (FRA) and Tim Hawkinson (USA).
Between July 17th and 19th, the Centro Cultural Matucana 100 of Santiago de Chile will host the performance "Lecture Performances Tecno-Class and Seminar/Open Lab" by artist Katia Sepúlveda (CHL), curated by Carolina Herrera Águila (CHL).
On July 19th at 12:30pm, the Museum of Memory and Human Rights of the Chilean capital will open "Presences" with works by Graciela Sacco (Rosario, 1956-2017). The intervention, presented as a tribute to the artist, includes the piece Who dunnit?, which aims to challenge visitors "by posing a question that is compellingly installed in both the public and the private spheres," says curator Diana Wechsler of the BIENALSUR team.
On the same day at 6:30pm, Brazilian artist Cildo Meireles will give a talk at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes of Chile located at José Miguel de La Barra 650. On July 20th, his exhibition "Close to Far Away" will open at the Centro Nacional de Arte Contemporáneo Cerrillos, curated by Juliana Gontijo (BRA). Concerned with the paradoxes between content and continent and between chaos and order, Meireles proposes a work in which a huge quantity of thread takes over the modern architecture of this old airport, flows down the stairs and out of the building, and visits other works of this artist.
On July 25th at 7:30pm, the MAC Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Universidad de Chile, will host "If You Lived Here", an exhibition that brings together a wide selection of works by American artist and activist Martha Rosler on gender, conflict and displacements, curated by Mariagrazia Muscatello and Montserrat Rojas Corradi. Additionally, this museum will offer an activation with the artist, and simultaneously with the Immigrants’ Hotel venue of MUNTREF.
"Deviations", a Franco-Argentine video art exhibition that gathers numerous artists, will be presented almost simultaneously at the Museo de Bellas Artes of Neuquén from July 23rd and at the Espacio de Fotografía Máximo Arias of Mendoza (Argentina) from July 26th. With the support of the French Embassy, the Institut Français, the Alliance Française and the Franco-Argentine Dialogue, this show features works by artists Esteban Álvarez (ARG), Robert Cahen (FRA), Nicola Costantino (ARG), Arnaud Dezoteux (FRA), Angelika Markul (POL/FRA), Andrés Piña (ARG), Liliana Porter (ARG), Eugenia Puccio (ARG), Inti Pujol (ARG), Paola Sferco (ARG), Lila Siegrist (ARG) and Gabriel Valansi (ARG)
On July 27th, two venues in Colombia will be part of the BIENALSUR 2019 programme: the exhibition "Specific Weight” by Argentine artist Valeria Traversa at the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce (Kennedy Hall), and the installation "On the Other Side of the Stigma" by Mexican artist Betsabeé Romero at the MAMBO - Museo de Arte Moderno of Bogotá, both curated by BIENALSUR.
