International Biennial Association meeting
Solange Farkas is nominated as Board Member of the International Biennial Association
Art biennials’ directors from all over the world gathered in Brazil at the beginning of September for one of International Biennial Association’s (IBA) annual meetings. Created as a platform for establishing, researching and exchanging knowledge and information necessary for institutions and professionals who plan and curate periodic art events, IBA aims to be a centre for producing multidisciplinary discourse that embodies the productive and discursive voices of the contemporary art world. The meeting had the presence of Hoor Al Qasimi, president of the association, and one of its highlights was the nomination of the Board members; including the third nomination of Solange Oliveira Farkas, artistic director of the Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil and founder of Associação Cultural Videobrasil.
Responsible for conducting research for the establishment of IBA’s policies, approving budgets and proposals and recommending and electing candidates for the President and Vice Presidents of the association, the Board is an executive committee made up of important names in international contemporary art.
Farkas has been a member of this team since the beginning of Hoor Al Qasimi’s presidency and currently works alongside Aki Hoashi (Yokohama Triennale), Alia Swatiska (Biennale Jogja), Alisa Prudnikova (Ural Industrial Biennial of Contemporary Art), Barbara Moore (Biennale of Sydney), Christine Tohme (Ashkal Alwan, the Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts), Enrique Rivera (Biennial of Media Arts of Santiago), Lassana Igo Diarra (Rencontres de Bamako, Biennale Africaine de la Photographie), Nevenka Šivavec (Biennial of Graphic Arts Ljubljana), Samantha Lackey (Liverpool Biennial). The IBA executive board is made up of Hoor Al Qasimi (Sharjah Art Foundation), Bige Örer (Istanbul Biennial) and Gabriele Horn (Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art).
Solange Farkas then led the members of the International Biennale Association to a visit to Associação Cultural Videobrasil, so that they could learn more on concepts guiding the 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videbrasil. This edition will be held at Sesc 24 de Maio, in São Paulo (Brazil), from October 18, 2023.
Entitled Memory is an Editing Station, the biennial is consists of three axes: a main exhibition, which brings together artists from 38 countries; an extensive schedule of Public Programs; and the 40-Year Special project. The 40-Year Special, curated by Alessandra Bergamaschi and Eduardo de Jesus, consists of an immersion in the Videobrasil Historical Collection. The project revisits the history of video and electronic art and celebrates the four decades since the first Videobrasil Festival (1983), which gave rise to the current biennial.
Following the meeting, the members of IBA were able to gain an in-depth understanding of the conception of the 40-Year Special. Led by Alessandra Bergamaschi, they talked about the research process, the planning of the exhibition and got a preview of what will be seen at Sesc 24 de Maio from October 18.
Images: B Paolucci