From different shades of the political spectrum, nationalism has reemerged as a critical theme to understand the disputes that shape our time, raising questions about the duration and scope of this new regressive cycle. In this context, the 21st Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil | Imagined Communities borrows the title of Benedict Anderson’s classic study of the rise of nationalism to investigate how poetics stemming from the South have been addressing the phenomenon. Without losing the geopolitical focus, the curatorial team of the 21st Biennial, composed of Gabriel Bogossian, Luisa Duarte, Miguel López, and Solange Farkas, intends to expand the repertoire of questions and broaden the diversity of the voices we hear. Thus, they consider stateless communities, indigenous peoples, religious or mystical communities, communities uprooted from their original lands, fictional, utopian, and clandestine communities, or those constituted in the subterranean universes of sexual experiences and dissident bodies.

Conceptual changes

Aiming at a more explicit positioning in the global art scene, and without neglecting current changes in our local context, we have now adopted the name Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil. With its usual dynamism and originality, the Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil enters a new stage, aligned with the purposes and international calendar of Biennials.

Such changes do not alter the Festival’s encouragement of art production outside the market, the creation of reflective content through seminars, debates, and publications, the initiatives to educate audiences, and the incentive for concrete exchange among artists. Opening in October 2019, the 21st edition takes place in Sesc 24 de Maio and Galpão VB, and unfolds into three curatorial platforms –exhibition + film program, public programs, and publication – each one in charge of a guest curator.

Open call

Associação Cultural Videobrasil and Sesc São Paulo invite artists from the Global South, the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), and native peoples from all countries to participate in the selection of artists for the 21st Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil | Imagined Communities.

With its usual dynamism, the Festival enters new stage in 2018, with a new name: Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil. Its 21st edition unfolds into three curatorial platforms: exhibition + film program, public programs, and publication.

For the first time, the call is published alongside a curatorial statement, which will guide the work of curators in selecting artists and preparing the programs of the 21st Biennial. Imagined Communities, the title of this edition, is a starting point to investigate how the poetics stemming from the South interpret the nationalist wave we have seen spread throughout the world and how artists of stateless communities — especially those from native peoples — elaborate their symbolic production.

In addition, the artists selected via open call will be accompanied by artists invited by the team of curators. Also from the South, these artists will be able to establish dialogue points with the proposed curatorial investigation. All artists may take part in one or more curatorial platforms, with no restrictions.

The application process, open to works in any language, is free and must be done online. Each user may submit up to 05 (five) works, which must be sent simultaneously. Application in Individual Authorship does not exclude the possibility of application in Collective Authorship; just create a different username.

Information entered can be saved and edited until acceptance of the Agreement and submission of the form. Once the application is completed, a record number will be generated, which must be saved by the artist or group representative. A confirmation e-mail with the application information will be sent to the registered user.

Read the curatorial statement of the 21st Contemporary Art Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil | Imagined Communities.

Access the call of this edition. In case of doubts, send an e-mail to [email protected]. Deadline for submissions: 10 August 2018.