Page 102 - ARTE!Brasileiros #45

ART BEYOND ART ENGLISH VERSION
Paulo Biennale, two years ago, the show brought together artists, such as Marcelle, When the Minister of the Interior of Italy, Matteo Salvini, prohibited the landing of 629
that seek to reveal often opaque layers in society. immigrants of the ship Aquarius, last June, the Mayor of Palermo, Leoluca Orlando
For the first time in Berlin – and it never happened in the Bienal de São Paulo, tried to reverse the order: “We are convinced that immigrants are not a problem.
it is good to remember, the whole team of Ngcobo is composed of blacks, most This situation is an opportunity to defend the rights of all human beings to move
women: Yvette Mutumba, Nomaduma Rosa Masilela, Moses Serubiri and Brazilian and live in the place that suits them, “said Orlando at that moment. As the Italian
Thiago de Paula Souza. ports are of the State power, immigrants had to land in Spain, almost a week later.
Berlin is a biennial that is often marked by boldness, as in 2012, in it’s 7th. edition, The defense of the free transit, however, echoed in the following days, when the
when the main room of the KW was ceded to movements of occupation that spread Mayor attended the opening events of the 12th edition of Manifesta, the itinerant
throughout the world after the Occupy Wall Street. In their latest editions, however, biennial of Europe, which follows in Palermo until November 4. Rare politician,
it suffer forceful critics by shows somewhat hermetic and confusing. he stole the attention of journalists who accompanied the days of opening, with
The biennial of Ngcobo is a relief in this sense. She has a clear expographic, with speeches that contrast with the conservative and reactionary scenario in the
ample spaces for each work, occupies few places in the city -only five - and brings world today.
together a number of artists in a greatly reduced number if one thinking about shows Born in Palermo, where he graduated in Law, Orlando, 71, studied in Heidelberg,
like that, 46 in total. With 30 works commissioned by the curatorial team, the result Germany, with teachers like the philosophers Martin Heidegger and Hans Georg
is strong and eloquent work, reviewing one of the pillars of these major exhibitions, Gadamer. Elected mayor in Palermo, in 1985, was one of the leaders who managed
when is the amount that generates quality. On this Berlin Biennale, less is more. to reduce the power of the mafia, historically in the control of Sicily.
“Again/Noch einmal” (Again), by Mario Pfeiffer, is one of those unforgettable works It has since been re-elected four times, and the current mandate was won with
that speak about present time in a poetic and bright way. In 2016, the conservative 74% of the votes.
region of Saxony, four Germans tied an Iraqi refugee with a history of epilepsy in Since the years 1990, 4000 mafiosi were arrested and the Orlando speech in favour
a tree outside a supermarket, because they felt he was threatening the cashier. of immigration, consolidated in Palermo, from 2015, it’s not just theoretical: in the
The case created controversy in Germany because the four were processed, but last two years, 400,000 immigrants entered in Sicily, impressive amount for a
popularly came to be hailed as heroes acting to “civil courage”. On the eve of trial, population of 5 million people.
the refugee was found dead and the case just cancelled. PLANETARY GARDEN
The biennial, however, does not have a constant political tone, as these two This context could not be more favourable to an exposition like Manifesta: “We want
works can lead us to assume. There’s a fairly delicate blend between poetic to be a radically local and relevant Biennale, so it’s a show about Palermo and the
strategies less militant, as the Chilean paintings from Johanna Unzueta, dispersed essential issues here, an island between three continents, that fight against crime,
in various locations of the exhibition at KW and at the Art Academy (Akademie der racism and global warming, “said Hedwig Fijen, director and creator of Manifesta.
Kunst), based on indigenous practices and exposed in easels inspired on Lina Bo Since 1996, the Manifesta has been through 12 European cities, starting with
Bardi’projects. Or else at the plants entered in the cracks of the floor of the exhibition Rotterdam in the Netherlands, where the Biennale was conceived through Saint
space of the same Academy by Sara Haq, sign both of delicacy as force of nature. Petersburg (2014) and Zurich (2016), more recent editions.
The Cuban Belkis Ayón’s paintings (1967-1999) are another highlight of the Biennale In Palermo, the conception of the show began with a project conducted by the
to exhibit the work of the artist that address the rituals of a secret society exclusively Dutch architecture firm OMA, who created the “Palermo Atlas”, a compilation on
male named Abakuá. information about architecture, culture and history of the city.
The Biennial, moreover, is very fond of presenting works that dialogue with other The show itself was organized by a team of four cultural mediators - two of them the
fields of knowledge, such as the ILLUSIONS series, begun in 2016, by Grada Kilomba, Spaniard Andrès Jaque and Italian Ippolito Pestelleni Laparelli architects, Laparelli
which reviews Greek myths in order to observe the symbolism and allegories also works in the OMA - the artist Bregtje van der Haak Dutch, who participated
loaded with oppression in them. In Berlin, she reopens Oedipus Rex, by Sophocles, in the 27th biennial of São Paulo, in 2006, and the Swiss curator Mirjam Varadinis.
on two screens: in one Kilomba narrates the story in didactic form, in another, the “We work closely, both in selection as in the choice of locations. The goal was to
performance of several actors unfolds in a very choreographic way. get spaces that do not usually present art - since there are great art museums
here - to create a new route by the city ,” said Haak to ARTE!Brasileiros . To this end,
Revise authoritarian practices, in fact, becomes a constant throughout the Biennial, the show is divided into 20 venues, from small chapels, passing by huge palaces,
but what makes it particularly special is to propose new narratives that work as a arriving at the city’s Botanical Garden.
possible counterpoint. A detail that stands out in this sense is that all the artists Is from there, in fact, that comes the name of this Manifesta: “The Planetary
present at the Biennial are never identified by their age, gender, and origin, nor
whether they are alive or dead. What can give impression of lack of information, in Garden”. The term is borrowed from French botanist Gilles Clément, who, in 1991,
the end is the practice of equality carried to the extreme. What matters are works. used the term planetary garden, to point out how nature and human culture are
The expography also follows this pattern by giving large spaces so that each work partners in maintaining Earth. From this concept, the show develops through three
is elevated to its maximum power. If a Biennial that talks about the collapse of the sections: Garden of Flows, Uncontroled Room and City on Stage.
present time is already relevant, pointing out ways that depart from this crisis
makes it vital. “We don’t need another hero “could not have, in both the title and ON THE STREET
the content of the exhibition, a clearer message.w The part of the show at the Botanical Garden, however, is the less thrill in Manifesta,
it’s hard to compete with plants that grow on the site since 1789, one of the world’s
BIENNIALS MANIFESTA 12 | PAGES 24 TO 28 references for the study of exotic species. Originally, the site was created for the
PALERMO, PALERMO cultivation and research of medicinal plants by Academy of Palermo Studies.
Currently, it has more than 12000 species.
From the eight artists participating in this section, the Colombian Alberto
THE EUROPEAN BIENNIAL WITH A NOMADIC CHARACTER BRINGS TOGETHER Baraya is the one that best explores the relationship with space, using a very
WORKS BY 50 ARTISTS IN THE CAPITAL OF SICILY WITH URGENT ISSUES LIKE known series, in which he gathers fake plants and presented them as if they
REFUGEES, RACISM AND GLOBAL WARMING were object of scientific study. The work has been presented at the Bienal
de São Paulo in 2006. “Actually it is a work that I could not avoid to present
BY FABIO CYPRIANO, IN PALERMO here, after all it’s totally appropriate to the Botanical Garden” said, near a

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