Breaking away from the single-theme model, the 33rd Bienal de São Paulo presents twelve solo projects along with seven group shows organized by invited artist-curators. Currently on through December 9, 2008, Affective Affinities will focus on the individual experience of the spectator. The title chosen by chief-curator Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro – appointed by the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo to conceive the show – refers to the novel by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Elective Affinities (1809) and the thesis On the Affective Nature of Form in the Work of Art (1949), by Mário Pedrosa.
The title is not meant as a guiding theme for the exhibition, but rather characterizes its organization based on the artistic and cultural affinities among those involved. Presence and attention are the premises of this edition of the event, in a reaction to a world of ready-made truths, in which information is fragmented and people find it hard to concentrate, leading them into alienation and passivity.
Against this backdrop, the 33rd Bienal de São Paulo will comprise 12 individual projects selected by Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro and seven collective exhibitions conceived by the artist-curators previously announced: Mamma Andersson (Luleå, Sweden, 1962), Stargazer II; Antonio Ballester Moreno (Madrid, Spain, 1977), sentido/comum (common/sense); Sofia Borges (Ribeirão Preto, Brazil, 1984), A infinita história das coisas ou o fim da tragédia do um (The Infinite Story of Things or the End of the Tragedy of One); Waltercio Caldas (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1946), Os aparecimentos (The Appearances); Alejandro Cesarco (Montevideo, Uruguay, 1975), Aos nossos pais (To Our Parents); Claudia Fontes (Buenos Aires, Argentina, 1964), O pássaro lento (The Slow Bird); and Wura-Natasha Ogunji (St. Louis, USA, 1970), sempre, nunca (always, never).
The 33rd Bienal de São Paulo Affective Affinities seeks to create an alternative model to thematic exhibitions by favoring the artists’ gaze upon their own creative contexts. The event introduces twelve individual projects and seven group shows organized by artist-curators. Additionally, a program of meetings, lectures, performances and activations of artworks will take place in the spaces of the 33rd Bienal on a weekly schedule.