17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil

September through December 2011 SESC Belenzinho | SESC Pompeia | State Art Gallery São Paulo, SP, Brazil With a new name and significant structural changes from past editions, the 17th Festival marks the broadening of the project’s scope. Now dubbed International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil, it includes new media and languages. Previously restricted to video works, the Southern Panoramas competitive show is now accepting other artistic experiments, such as installations, performances, artist books, photography and painting. In addition to maintaining its traditional character as a showcase for recent production from Latin America, Africa, Asia (except Japan), Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Oceania, the competitive show now opens itself up to the multiplicity of mediums that defines current production. This change aligns the Festival with the nature of contemporary artistic practices and confronts the huge output of representations that constitute visuality in the world today. Videobrasil takes on a brand new format and becomes the first contemporary art festival in the country. Established within this context, the 1st Videobrasil Open Studio Prize further strengthens the character of the new proposal. The Prize selects young artists based in São Paulo to produce collaborative artwork at Casa Tomada, a facility for production, reflection, and interaction in São Paulo. The resulting artworks will feature in the Southern Panoramas show. Parallel to the competition, the Festival will feature an exhibition by Olafur Eliasson, the first ever in Latin America by the leading contemporary artist. The exhibition is curated by Jochen Volz. The Danish-Icelandic artist’s projects, whose large scale is an uncommon feature in contemporary art production, appeals to a broad audience, as is the case with Waterfalls (2008), consisting of waterfalls over the Hudson River, in New York, and the Weather Project (2006), featuring a huge artificial sun inside the Tate Modern gallery, in London. Eliasson’s installations, sculptures, photographs, and urban interventions question our processes of comprehension, perception, and cognition. The 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC_Videobrasil is promoted by SESC São Paulo and Associação Cultural Videobrasil, which were also in charge of the Brazilian tours of the exhibitions Sophie Calle – Take Care of Yourself (2009) and Joseph Beuys – We Are the Revolution (São Paulo/Salvador, 2010). VideoBrasil.

September through December 2011
SESC Belenzinho | SESC Pompeia | State Art Gallery 
São Paulo, SP, Brazil 

Southern Panoramas selected artists