Call for the 19th International Biennale in Bolivia

“The simulation does not hide the truth. The truth hides the truth. The simulation is true.”

Jean Baudrillard

The Municipal Autonomous Government of Santa Cruz de la Sierra is pleased to announce the 19^th International Biennale of Visual Arts in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, 2014, to take place at Santa Cruz de la Sierra city, Bolivia, September 12 – October 31, 2014.

The 19^th Biennale will be made up of the International Contest, national and international shows and different academic and cultural activities to be carried out in multiple cultural institutions in Santa Cruz de la Sierra city. Bolivian and foreign artists can participate in the event; their place of residence is not relevant. The artists shall at least have in their curriculum one solo show and one collective display, a requirement that is going to be checked by means of catalogues, invitations or any other document attached to the registration form.

This contest includes all disciplines of contemporary visual arts, such as: painting, sculpture, drawing, engraving, artistic photography (digital or analogical), video arte, video performance, artistic installations, artistic textiles, artistic ceramics, mixed techniques, art with electronic means and any other creative expression way within the aesthetic-visual sphere.

Each artist can present up to three works. The registration forms will be available at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, starting with the publication of this call. They can also be requested by writing to:

museo.artecontemporaneo@gmail.com, deribera@gmail.com

Call opening: January 14.
Call deadline: June 14.

This edition of the Biennale invites artists to reflect on the HYPERREALITY, a concept coined by philosophers Jean Baudrillard, Umberto Eco and Marshall Mc Luhan’s essays. It’s HYPERREALITY (it is not to be confused with the artistic movement Hyperrealism) like the concept in semiotics and postmodern philosophy. The expression is used to designate the inability of the conscience to distinguish reality from fantasy, especially in technologically-advanced postmodern cultures.

Hyperreality is a term to describe the way conscience defines what’s truly “real” in a world where the mass media can radically model and filter the way we perceive an event or experience.