First Days of Mercosur Biennial

The 8th Mercosur Biennial, inaugurated on September 10, will be open to the public through November 15, 2011, in Porto Alegre.

Ensayos de Geopoeticais the discursive axis of this edition that gathers over 100 artists from different countries, who implement projects questioning concepts such as country, nation, identity, and territory... geographic, politic and cultural diversity.

The curatorial project proposed seven fundamental cores, activated out of exhibitions and other strategies. These are: “Casa M”, “Diario de viaje”, “Continentes”, “Cruzando Fronteras”, “Ciudad-No-Vista”, “Geopoeticas” and the exhibition by the honorable guest Eugenio Dittborn.

Casa M is one of the key projects of the Biennial; and it has become a meeting site for local artistic community, people interested in art, professors and students, among others. Sited in Porto Alegre downtown (Rua Fernando Machado, 513), Casa M will be in place for seven months (kicked off in May), and it has included workshops and talks, as well as meetings with artists included on the central exhibition who some days ago talked about the setting up process of their artworks.

Warehouses at the city moles, Santander Cultural, Rio Grande do Sul Art Museum and several zones in the capital will be hosting the main exhibition, which will include other ten cities in the Brazilian state.The selection was carried out by Jose Roca (Colombia), as general commissioner; Pablo Helguera (Mexico),Pedagogic Project commissioner; Alexia Tala (Chile), Cauê Alves (Brazil) and Paola Santoscoy (Mexico) as joint curators, Aracy Amaral as guest curator and Fernanda Albuquerque (Brazil) assistant curator.

According to Jose Roca, Mercosur Biennial possesses, since it was created, Latin American vocation and international profile that must be strengthened. "If we take the Biennial as a long-term cultural policy project, we’ll understand the reason why its positioning strategy has been laid out inside out. As this international positioning process has succeeded, we’re in the right moment to intensify the relation with local elements, Brazilian scene in particular, Rio Grande do Sul and Porto Alegre’s."

The Biennial was founded in 1997, with the goal of cultural integration among member countries of the South Common Market. Until the 5^th edition, it was only focused on the four founding nations (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay), incorporating new members (Bolivia and Chile), as well as other guest countries (Mexico, Colombia, Venezuela). Afterwards, it aimed at proposals from all latitudes.

Source: http://www.Biennialmercosul.art.br/ Universes in Universe