Associação Cultural Videobrasil and Sesc São Paulo announce the guest curators for the 20th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil, slated for 2017 in São Paulo.
Brazil’s Ana Pato, Beatriz Lemos and Diego Matos, and Portugal’s João Laia will be in charge of artist selection for this edition alongside Solange Farkas, chief curator of the Festival that has grown into the leading contemporary art platform in the Global South.
The committee is already working on the call for entries, which will allow artists from countries outside the contemporary art scene’s hegemonic axis to apply free of charge to take part in the Festival’s exhibitions and programming.
The opening date for entries will be announced soon, along with updates for the 20th edition. Entries will be open from September through November 2016.
Find out a bit more about the curators of the 20th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil.
Chief Curator
Solange Farkas is curator and director of Associação Cultural Videobrasil, and founder of the Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil, first held in 1983. She was director and chief curator of the Bahia Museum of Modern Art from 2007 to 2010. She was also a guest curator for the 10th Sharjah Biennial (United Arab Emirates, 2011), the 16th Biennial of Cerveira (Portugal, 2011), the 5th Videozone – International Video Art Biennial (Israel, 2010), FUSO – Annual Video Art Festival (Portugal, 2011 and 2013), and the 6th Jakarta International Video Festival (Indonesia, 2013).
Guest curators
Ana Pato is a curator and researcher. With a doctorate degree from the School of Architecture and Urban Design of the University of São Paulo (FAU-USP), she was chief curator of the 3rd Bahia Biennale (2014) and projects director of Associação Cultural Videobrasil (2000–12). She is the author of the 2012 book Literatura Expandida: arquivo e citação na obra de Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster (Expanded Literature: archive and quotation in the work of Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster).
Beatriz Lemos is a curator specializing in arts and digital networks. Holder of a master’s degree in Social History of Culture from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ), she is the editor of publishing house Sismos Editorial and creator of the online platform Lastro. Since September 2015, Lemos has been a member of Parque Lage Visual Arts School’s Visiting Curator program.
Diego Matos is a researcher, professor and curator. He holds a master’s and a doctorate degree from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of São Paulo (FAU-USP). Matos was assistant curator for the 29th São Paulo Art Biennial (2010) and for the 18th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil (2013). From 2014 to 2016, he coordinated Associação Cultural Vidoebrasil’s Archive and Research Team.
João Laia is a writer and curator. He has curated for venues including the Moderna Museet, in Stockholm; the Chiado National Museum of Contemporary Art, in Lisbon; Videoex, Zurich; Delfina Foundation and the Whitechapel Gallery, both in London; and Parque Lage, in Rio de Janeiro. Laia is a contributor to international media outlets such as frieze, Mousse, Flash Art, Terremoto, and Público.
