Public discussion: Curator's Perspective - Jacopo Crivelli Visconti

About

As part of ICI’s Curator’s Perspective — an itinerant public discussion series featuring national and international curators — Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, the chief curator of the 34th Bienal de São Paulo, will present the concept of this year’s biennial and discuss its participating artists and public programme. This event is free and open to the public. To attend, please RSVP to rsvp@curatorsintl.org with JACOPO in the subject line.

34th Bienal de São Paulo – Faz escuro mas eu canto [Though it's dark, still I sing], from 8 February 2020

Venues: Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo (Bienal Pavilion), São Paulo, Brazil (from February 2020) + local and international venues (throughout 2020 and 2021)

The ​34th Bienal de São Paulo​ – Faz escuro mas eu canto [​Though it’s dark, still I sing]​ explores the poetics of relations and adopts an innovative operational structure: it is balanced on three different axes: space, time and depth. Regarding time, the duration of the biennial has been extended. Rather than opening in September as usual, it will open in February 2020, with a series of solo exhibitions and three short-duration performative actions that will occupy certain areas of the Bienal Pavilion at different moments in time (throughout the year). Additionally, in collaboration with partner institutions, other exhibitions will develop and unfold - mostly across São Paulo, but also internationally. Some of the exhibited works will re-appear in September as part of another larger exhibition, which will present the works in new contexts, once re-convened at the Bienal Pavilion, but also bearing the meanings acquired in their previous displays. The exhibitions that form the 34th Bienal de São Paulo will continue to take place at partner institutions throughout the duration of the larger show in September, extending until 2021.

The project is led by chief curator Jacopo Crivelli Visconti alongside Paulo Miyada (adjunct curator), as well as Carla Zaccagnini, Francesco Stocchi and Ruth Estévez (guest curators), and engages over 25 institutions, including the Liverpool Biennial (United Kingdom), CCA Wattis, San Francisco (US); CCA Lagos - Centre for Contemporary Art Lagos (Nigeria); and Kunsthalle Basel (Switzerland).

About Jacopo Crivelli Visconti

Born in Naples, Italy, in 1973, Jacopo Crivelli Visconti is an independent critic and curator. A resident of São Paulo, he holds a PhD in architecture from the Universidade de São Paulo (USP) and is the author of the book Novas derivas (WMF Martins Fontes, São Paulo, Brazil, 2014; Ediciones Metales Pesados, Santiago, Chile, 2016). As a member of the team of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo (2001 to 2009), he curated the official Brazilian participation at the 52nd Biennale di Venezia (2007).

His recent works include: Untimely, Again, Pavilion of the Republic of Chipre at the 58th Biennale di Venezia, Italy (2019); Brasile – Il coltello nella carne, PAC – Padiglione d’arte contemporanea, Milan, Italy (2018); Matriz do tempo real, Museu de Arte Contemporânea of the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil (2018); Memories of Underdevelopment, Museum of Contemporary Art of San Diego, USA (2017); Héctor Zamora – Dinâmica não linear, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, São Paulo (2016); Sean Scully, Pinacoteca do Estado de São Paulo, Brazil (2015); and Ir para volver, 12th Bienal de Cuenca, Ecuador (2014). He regularly collaborates with publications on contemporary art, architecture and design, contributes to exhibition catalogs, and writes monographs on artists.

About The Curator’s Perspective

The Curator’s Perspective is a free, itinerant public talk series featuring established U.S. and international curators, who present on their work and research. It was developed to offer audiences ways to connect with timely information and a wide variety of international perspectives on contemporary art and curating today. The series sheds light on movements and models that are shaping the curatorial field today, addressing questions about art, culture, and the artists and exhibitions that curators look to. 

The Curator’s Perspective series is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with City Council, by a grant from the James Howell Foundation, and by generous contributions from the ICI Board of Trustees and ICI Access Fund. This program is also made possible by ICI Trustee Sarina Tang.