Entries for the 20th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil will open on October 3rd. Up until November 17th, 2016, artists from the Global South and from Portuguese language speaking countries can enter their new or existing artworks in any language or theme, free of charge.

The 20th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil will run from October 2017 to January 2018 at Sesc 24 de Maio, a unit of Sesc São Paulo designed by architect Paulo Mendes da Rocha, and at Galpão VB, headquarters of Associação Cultural Videobrasil.

The term Global South refers to a field of research used by human sciences and arts that relates to cultural, economic, and political situation of countries and territories on the fringe of mainstream modernization. Aware of the transient character of this notion, Associação Cultural Videobrasil and Sesc São Paulo steer their actions toward constantly reassessing the statute of this concept.

For this open call, the macro-region at hand will comprise countries in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia (except Japan), Eastern Europe (including the Balkans), the Middle East, Oceania, and the Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries – the latter being one of the new additions of this 20th edition. Apart from Brazil, the CPLP comprises: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Mozambique, Portugal, São Tomé and Príncipe, and East Timor.

The commission will select as many as 50 artists to take part in art shows, video screenings, performances, meetings with artists, public program activities, educational actions, and publication launches set to take place during the Festival, which has cemented its status as the premier Global South art platform. Shortlisted video artworks will be incorporated into the Videobrasil Historical Collection, that comprises works shown in over three decades of Festivals.

In this 20th edition, the featured artists and groups from Brazil and other countries will compete for two types of prizes. An international jury of contemporary art professionals will award 03 (three) Acquisition Awards of BRL 25,000 each to video works that will become part of the Sesc Brazilian Art Collection.

A jury of delegates of residence institutions which are partners of the Festival will award 05 (five) Artist Residency Awards, that will take place throughout 2017. Each award includes  airfare,  accomodation, and a per diem.

Free online registration from October 3rd: http://www.videobrasil.org.br/opencall

Find out more about 20th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil curators:

Chief curator

Solange Farkas is curator and director of Associação Cultural Videobrasil, as well as 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 served as a guest curator at the 10th Sharjah Biennial (United Arab Emirates, 2011), the 16th Cerveira Biennial (Portugal, 2011), the FUSO – Annual Video Art Festival (Portugal, 2011 and 2013) as well as the exhibitions La Mirada Discreta: Marcel Odenbach & Robert Cahen (Buenos Aires, 2006); Roteiro Amarrado (CCBB Rio de Janeiro, 2010) and Suspensão e Fluidez (ARCO, Madrid, 2007), the two latter focussing on the work of Brazilian artist Eder Santos; and African Contemporary Art Exhibition (2000), in partnership with Klive Kellner, with artists like William Kentridge, Zwelethu Mthethwa, Sue Williamson, Oladele Ajiboye Bamgboye and Kendell Geers, and, more recently, Amanhã vai ficar tudo bem, by Akram Zaatari (São Paulo, 2016) held at Galpão VB.

Guest curators

Ana Pato is a curator and researcher. A doctoral student at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of São Paulo (FAU-USP), she was chief curator of the 3rd Bahia Biennale (2014) and director of projects of Associação Cultural Videobrasil (2000-2012). She is the author of the bookLiteratura 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 specialized 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 coordinator of the publishing house Sismos Editorial and creator of the online platform Lastro. Since September 2015, she 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 degrees from the School of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of São Paulo (FAU-USP). He 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 the Archive and Research Team at Associação Cultural Videobrasil.

João Laia is a writer and curator. He has curated for institutions like Moderna Museet, in Stockholm; the Chiado National Museum of Contemporary Art, in Lisbon; Videoex, in Zurich; Delfina Foundation and Whitechapel Gallery, both in London; and Parque Lage, in Rio de Janeiro. He contributes with texts and reviews for publications and vehicles Frieze, Mousse, Flash Art, Terremoto and Público.

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www.videobrasil.org.br