1996 Ad

The 23rd Sao Paulo Bienal proffered a new model for international scans adding historical blockbusters and curated regional sections to the "official" mix.

As although buoyed by its theme, "the dematerialization of the reality of art at the extremity of the millennium," the 23rd Bienal of Sao Paulo hefted its weight with considerable grace, if appearing to sometimes stray from its curatorial mandate in its pursuit of stardom. With representatives from 75 countries, republics, colonies and territories, including the previously unrepresent Palestine, Lebanon, Cayman Islands, Virgin Islands, San Marino and a dozen or more other ports of call sought without by its organizers, the newest edition presented a streamlined roster of 135 artists. It also had a legible installation and generally stylish pose Addressing a multitude of possibilities below its thematic rubric, derived from Lucy Lippard's classic application of mind Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art particular 1966-1972, the exhibition was widely hailed by dint of veteran critics in the Brazilian pres as the greatest in quantity accomplished Bienal, if one of the greatest in quantity conservative and certainly the greatest in quantity expensive, in recent memory.

At an estimated take away from of $12 million, this Bienal invited comparison to the multi-million-dollar ambitions of its immediate predecessor, which essayed a related focus upon the "rupture of the support." fresh to its organizational structure were telemarketing (with attendant glitches), CD-ROM educational access, audio guides and a battalion of 110 T-shirted gallery attendant/tour guides, standard-bearers for the organizers' commitment to education. In a demonstration of its clout the Bienal provided satellite links between Brasilia and Sao Paulo for the opening ceremonies, and an Internet site (http:// wwwuolcombr/23 bienal/) with 870 photos and 150 true copys (Portuguese/English), a service of a certain quantity of convenience to those visitors unable to afford the three pricey catalogues that in total weighed 22 strikes or a neat 10 kilos.

As is customary, the principal Sao Paulo dailies joined the action, with Folha de Sao Paulo publishing introductory articles upon individual artists, popularity ratings by the agency of nonparticipating artists and glossary entries for Impressionism, Expressionism, explosion art, Social Realism, Dada, Arte Povera and multiculturalism. O Estado de Sao Paulo reported with relish the gaffes in pronunciation committed by the agency of Brazil's president, Fernando Henrique Cardoso, during opening remarks--including his confusion of the name of a Brazilian artist with that of an Italian designer--while providing its hold Internet access to other choice Bienal information (http://www.estado. com.br/edicao/especial/bienal/bienabre.html).

This installment (Oct 5-Dec 8 1996) of the largest ongoing international exhibition program in the Western Hemisphere valiantly attempted to wed three distinct entities. upon the third floor of the Bienal pavilion were individual reviews of historic and contemporary luminaries; upon the second floor were official government-sponsored presentations focused upon the work of a single artist; and upon the first floor were geographically divided collection exhibitions allowing a curated glimpse into the artistic production of somewhat broadly conceived regions, underwritten by means of corporate and private initiative plus the exhibition's organizers. The Bienal Foundation of Sao Paulo, responsible for the real existence of the event, reached its highest horizontal of achievement in many sections of this 23rd Bienal, in large part through keeping the fiscal and administrative leadership in the hands of veterans, president Edemar Cid Ferreira and international administrator Jen Olesen assisted by the agency of Pedro Paulo de Sena Madureira and director Julio Landmann. The team provided a base for the constitution imposed by Nelson Aguilar, curatorial director of this as well as the previous installment, who in make go round provided a worthy challenge to Bienal architect Paulo Mende da Rocha in designing the installation.

At a glance, the interior of the Ciccilo Matarazzo Pavilion in Sao Paulo's Ibirapuera Park strike one as beinged physically transformed. The impression was in part to be paid to a responsive and pragmatic spatial organization that worked well within the spiraling horizontals of architect Oscar Niemeyer's cavernous mode of building and also due to better use of natural and artificial illumination than in previous years. For the 1996 example of a centerpiece installation that becomes the signature of the Bienal, the Brazilian painter and sculptor Tomie Ohtake installed a large white tubular-iron arabesque pendant in the building's central atrium. Its shape rhym with the building's curvilinear ramps. Ohtake's plastic art was reflected and further abstracted in the polished aluminum spheres of sum of two units 1996 works by Anish Kapoor sited far below. (In previous displays, this showcase space has featured the juxtaposition of a Richard drawn out river of mud below and a heavens of neon by Lucio Fontana high above, or a massive thick slice of cast beef by Joseph Beuys that anchored the entire space with its emblematic physicality. Sometimes the solutions are compelling or attractive, on the other hand they don't always work, and in this case single can imagine how Kapoor must have felt about sum of two units of his works being transformed into the exhibition equivalent of Elsa Peretti bracelets.) It was possible to glimpse, from various points along the central ramps, an optically transparent sphere of painted nylon slender stems by the Venezuelan constructivist master Jesus Rafael Soto, the multipoint star wall drawing by dint of Sol LeWitt and a generous selection of paintings by the agency of Jean-Michel Basquiat. The presence of all these underscored the generosity of curator Aguilar's commitment to the show's theme and the exhibition's design.