Indeed, without the Bienal’s uninterrupted routine, the formation of the modern and contemporary tradition which came about in a unique manner in the visual arts in Brazil–through contact and confrontation with international tendencies– would have been quite unlikely—and which has, in turn, constructed the exhibition’s own history.

With each edition, the Bienal de São Paulo served as a display of Brazil’s artistic production. The positions of confrontation, relationships and approximations were inevitable. It was the event that broke the isolation of the visual arts and expanded its reach beyond that circle of members. As such, through the works and the artists included in the exhibit, as well as the critical writings in the catalogue, the objective of 30 x Bienal was to demonstrate the transformations in Brazilian art that have occurred in the last 30 editions – from the controversy surrounding abstract art which dominated the 1950s, through to the New Figuration, experimentalism and the influx of Pop Art in the 1960s, the conceptual atmosphere of the 1970s, the return to painting in the 1980s and the so-called contemporary practices that emerged from the late 20th century on. In other words, the “Bienal effect” seen as a whole: a transformative process.

“Bienal 30 x Bienal Documentary”

Narration and curator: Paulo Venacio Filho

Go to the subtitled version