31st Bienal de São Paulo

The 31st Bienal de São Paulo will be titled "How to (...) things that don't exist". It is a poetic invocation of art’s capacities, of its ability to reflect and act upon on life, power and belief. The sentence, neither a question nor a proposition, entangles, through art, the mystical and spiritual side of life with political and social ideals – all this in a constantly changing world. It intends to communicate optimism about the possibilities of art today – an optimism that echoes that of the Bienal and the projects within it. The range of possibilities for action and intervention is open – an openness that is the reason for the first of the two verbs in the title to constantly change, anticipating the actions that might make present these things that don’t exist. We started by talking about them, later to move onto living with them. This was followed by using, struggling against and learning from those same things, in a list that has no end. It will be co-curated by Charles Esche, director of the Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven, Netherlands; Galit Eilat, research curator at the Van Abbemuseum and founding director of the Israeli Center for Digital Art in Holon; Pablo Lafuente, associate curator of the Office for Contemporary Art Norway in Oslo and coeditor of Afterall; Nuria Enguita Mayo, coeditor of Afterall; and Oren Sagiv, architect and professor of architecture at the Bezalel Academy for Art and Design in Jerusalem. The team is joined by associate curators Benjamin Seroussi, a Paris-based filmmaker, and Brazilian art critic Luiza Proença. Founded in 1951, the São Paulo Bienal is the second oldest biennial in the world, following Venice's, which began in 1885. The event is headquartered in the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, designed by famed Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer. Additional exhibition spaces throughout the city span over 315,000 square feet. Projects and artists: Agnieszka Piksa, It's Just the Spin of Inner Life Alejandra Riera and UEINZZ, "... - MUTE - OHPERA - ... " Ana Lira, Vote! Anna Boghiguian, Cities by the River Archivo F.X. / Pedro G. Romero, The Modern School Armando Queiroz with Almires Martins and Marcelo Rodrigues, Ymá Nhandehetama Arthur Scovino, House of Caboclo Asger Jorn, 10,000 Years of Nordic Folk Art Asier Mendizabal, Agoramaquia (The Exact Case of the Statue) Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme, The Incidental Insurgents Bik Van der Pol, Turning a Blind Eye Bruno Pacheco, Meeting Point and other works Chto Delat, The Excluded: In a moment of danger Clara Ianni and Débora Maria da Silva, Plea Dan Perjovschi, Wall, Work, Workshop: The São Paulo Drawing Danica Daki?, Heaven / El Dorado / Vila Maria Éder Oliveira, Untitled Edward Krasi?ski, Spear and other works El Hadji Sy, Marine Archaeology Erick Beltrán, Double Goer Etcétera... and León Ferrari, Erring from God Gabriel Mascaro, It Is Not About Shoes Giuseppe Campuzano, Life's Timeline / Transvestite Museum of Peru Graziela Kunsch, Fare Free Bus with Lilian L'Abbate Kelian, Urbânia 5 Magazine Gülsün Karamustafa, Illustrated History / The Settler Halil Alt?ndere, Wonderland Hudinilson Jr., Tension Zone Imogen Stidworthy, Balayer-A Map of Sweeping Ines Doujak and John Barker, Loomshuttles, Warpaths Jakob Jakobsen and María Berríos, The Revolution Must Be a School of Unfettered Thought Jo Baer, In the Land of the Giants and other works Johanna Calle, Imponderables / Perimeters Jonas Staal, Nosso Lar, Brasília Juan Carlos Romero, Violence Juan Downey, The Abandoned Shabono / Video Trans Americas Juan Pérez Agirregoikoa, Dead Letter Kasper Akhøj and Tamar Guimarães, Captain Gervásio's Family Lázaro Saavedra, Under Pressure Leigh Orpaz, Breakfast Lia Perjovschi, A Research Mapa Teatro, Laboratorio de artistas -The Uncounted: A Triptych Mark Lewis, Invention Marta Neves, No-Ideas Michael Kessus Gedalyovich, The Name Giver / The Placebo Scroll Mujeres Creando, Space to Abort Nahum Zenil / Ocaña / Sergio Zevallos / Yeguas del Apocalipsis (Organized by Miguel A. López), God is Queer Nilbar Güre?, Open Phone Booth / Black Series / TrabZONE and other works Nurit Sharett, Counting the Stars Otobong Nkanga, Landversation Prabhakar Pachpute, Dark Clouds of the Future Qiu Zhijie, Map Romy Pocztaruk, The Last Adventure Ruangrupa, RURU Sandi Hilal, Alessandro Petti and Grupo Contrafilé, Mujawara Sheela Gowda, Those of Whom Teatro da Vertigem, The Last Word Is the Penultimate One - 2 Teresa Lanceta, Bert Flint / Granada / Handira Thiago Martins de Melo, Martyrdom Tiago Borges and Yonamine, AfroUFO Tony Chakar, One Hundred Thousand Solitudes / Of Other Worlds That Are on This One Val del Omar, Water-Mirror of Granada / Fire in Castile Virginia de Medeiros, Sergio and Simone Vivian Suter, Untitled Voluspa Jarpa, Learning Histories Walid Raad, Letters to the Reader (1864, 1877, 1916, 1923) Wilhelm Sasnal, Capital Yael Bartana, Hell Yuri Firmeza, The Fortress / Nothing Is Yochai Avrahami, Small World For complete information on the 31st Bienal de São Paulo please visit: bienal.org.br.