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could rethink the exhibition possibilities. Biennials | guatemala [pages 14 to 17] refugees, in the sense that the main reason
The river is a serpent: topics for difference for migration to the North is unemployment,
and social justice, an online teacher training PAIZ ART BIENNIAL which is itself a form of economic violence.
program, held in weekly meetings between What is generally seen in Latin America
October and November 2020 was also taken in FOCUSES ON CULTURAL is not the denial of citizenship to minorities,
this direction. “The approval was so great that but the denial of a dignified life, of being able
the training became an official course for the DIVERSITY AND CRISES to live in peace. Then came the pandemic
municipality, offering career progression to the IN LATIN AMERICA and the title gained strength of its own
participating teachers”, says Renata Sampaio, Jonas Staal’s work, the way he
who led the program. In an interview with arte!brasileiros, approaches his research and projects, was
At each meeting, one or more speakers Chilean curator Alexia Tala talks about the an inspiration, a kind of base from which we
would join the group to discuss strategies 22nd edition of the Guatemalan Bienal, started to consider the Bienal as a project.
for working in the classroom. “The idea was which raised debates about native peoples Their proposals for political formation, their
not to show the teacher how to teach, but to and their views of the world, immigration discussion workshops, the different ways
raise awareness about issues that we think and contemporary crises of working at the collective level and their
are of paramount importance, so that the particular ways of problematizing served
debate can continue, in a horizontal manner, as a starting point for discussing the
at school”, explains Renata. “The educational By marCos grinspum ferraZ local, regional and southern hemisphere
in this edition of Frestas is working from non- in relation to the north. And, within that,
hegemonic perspectives, agents and concepts, Lost. iN the middLe. together, it was its basis in inequality.
seeking to build relationships with other areas the title of the 22nd Paiz Art Biennial, held in The curatorial project is divided into
of knowledge”, she adds. Guatemala City, capital of the Central American three thematic axes: Universes of matter;
Online, however, expanded Frestas’ country, and in the small city of Antigua Past. eternal. futures; and Perverse
geographic borders. In the Training Program, Guatemala. Inspired by a publication by Dutch Geography/Damn Geographies. All three
it enabled the participation of educators and artist Jonas Staal about a group of refugees address issues that are interconnected and
guests from different places in Brazil and in Amsterdam, the title gained new meanings that touch right there, at that point where
the availability of this material online so that when it was moved to the Latin American reality, everything is out of balance both socially
more people could be impacted. In general especially in a country with almost half of its and politically, where ancestral history is
terms, it allowed for an even more intense population of indigenous origin. confronted with contemporary history and
exchange with the international scene, based “What is generally seen in Latin America is where matter and ways of approaching
on the partnership established with the Ayllu not the denial of citizenship to minorities, but objects and nature are opposed.
collective, a group of artistic-political action the denial of a dignified life”, says the curator-
and collaborative research formed by migrant, in-chief of the edition, Chilean Alexia Tala, In your curatorial text you talk about the
racialized and gender and sexual dissidents from referring to the original peoples who “have concept of “presentism” to refer to a kind
the former -Spanish colonies, headquartered been denied their rights to live respecting of disorientation that we live in the current
in Madrid. their cosmovisions, their forms of medicine moment in the world, also related to a
Seeking a critical space for collective thinking and community organization”. The title also difficulty in looking both to the past and
and creation, Ayllu developed the Program refers to the many immigrants who leave Latin to the future. Could you talk a little about
Oriented to Subaltern Practices (pops), which America for the countries of the North, as a result this idea, about how it is approached by
brought together around 40 people from eight of unemployment and poverty, and who live as the curatorship?
Latin American countries to question rationalism, a kind of refugees in these countries. This presentism that Reinhart Koselleck
scientism and the false objectivity of Eurocentric Raising these and many other questions, the talks about led us to think about a question
thinking. The discussions generated a collective 22nd Paiz Art Biennial, which ended on June 6, of temporality, of analyzing the capacity and
fanzine that will be part of the show The river is brought together works by 40 artists – among inability to envision futures at a time when -
a serpent and added another discussion to the them the Brazilians Ayrson Heráclito, Detanico even more so with the pandemic - this false
project, bringing the debate to migration issues. & Lain, Jonathas de Andrade and Vanderlei idea of interconnectivity was accentuated,

The participation of people from 25 of the Lopes – and spread to six institutions of the which at the same time bombards us and
27 federative units in Brazil in the expography two Guatemalan cities. In addition to group blinds us. Within this temporality is the
course also sets the tone for this expansion shows, with a large presence of local artists, Mayan ancestral past, which in a multi-
of Frestas. Conducted by Tiago Guimarães, two solo shows completed the show: one by ethnic and multilingual country where 60%
exhibition architect of the triennial itself, the Guatemalan artist Aníbal Lopez and the other of the population is of indigenous origin,
course aimed to contribute so that more people by Chilean photographer Paz Errázuriz (which assumes crucial importance.
had access to information about the area. Anti- will continue on after the end of the biennale). The curatorship sought to approach
analysis, a mentoring project by Pêdra Costa, In an interview to arte!brasileiros, Alexia this, from our place as mestizo whites,
assisted 45 artists from all over Brazil when it spoke about the Biennial’s curatorship – done by speaking from the historical context of an
happened online, which would not have been her in partnership with assistant curator Gabriel overdose of the present and allowing us to
possible with the presence in Sorocaba, as they Rodríguez Pellecer -, about the Latin American enter into ancestral territories that belong
had initially thought. political context, about the pandemic moment to these artists from the altiplano - and to
and a series of other subjects. Read excerpts the other guests. The important thing was
reaChing the mouth oF the river from the interview below (the full version is to do this through their own voices, the
If the initial objective of The river is a serpent was available at artebrasileiros.com.br). artists Kakchiquel, Tz’utujil, Garífunas and
to take the discussions of the Brazilian and world Afro-descendants from different parts of
contemporary art circuit to Sorocaba, finding – First of all, I would like you to tell Latin America, as well as artists from Africa.
less violent paths, it seems that educational us a little about how the curatorial project The works presented at the Bienal
practices not only created these points of for this biennial was conceived and what dialogue with each other and between the
dialogue with the city, through the Training are the main thematic axes that run through thematic axes. The decision to open a space
Program , but proposed discussions at other the exhibition. Within that, could also talk for indigenous and popular voices, without
points in the circuit. These discussions will flow a little bit about the title Lost. in the middle. intending to be a translator of anything,
into Sorocaba in the face-to-face and virtual together? resulted in a collective perception by the
exhibition proposed for the second half of 2021. Guatemalan public that everything that is
Along this river, not only were artists and alexia tala - I will start to answer for exposed there makes sense in their lives. And
educators able to rethink their processes and the second part. The title comes from a that’s the biggest reward for the team’s work.
reflect on the absences and possibilities around publication by Dutch artist Jonas Staal and
them, but so did the Triennial team and Sesc the BaK project that focuses on a group of Regarding the selection of artists, there
itself. “I’m rooting for the institution to review 200 refugees who were denied citizenship. is a predominance of Latin Americans (35
itself in some practices, because it is still very This fact seemed to us a mirror of the out of 40 participants). Is this look that part
white and this is something that needs to be situation of the indigenous communities of what we call the Global South, and more
thought about”, points out Thiago. The focus of Central America and of the many people specifically of Latin America, the main focus
on the process, education as the main pillar who are forced to migrate. People who, on of the exhibition?
of the project and the joint construction of the one hand, are recognized as citizens, but Yes, the focus was on Latin America,
knowledge seem to have been important tools on the other hand, are denied their rights to both for curatorial and logistical reasons.
for this, because, as Renata Sampaio concludes: live respecting their cosmovisions, forms Although many of the works respond to the
“The path of this river was made in the meetings, of medicine and community organization. Guatemalan context, the idea has always
and the meeting is something at hand double, Furthermore, we also associate the title with been to take Guatemala as the mirror from
everyone leaves modified after it”. all immigrants who we can also think of as which we can see all these inequalities
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