The first publication related to the exhibition, the educational material Incerteza viva – Processos artísticos e pedagógicos – 32ª Bienal de São Paulo [Live Uncertainty – Artistic and Pedagogical Processes] was released on April 5th by the Bienal Foundation at an event for educators and partner organizations. With a print run of 10,000 copies, the publication edited by Jochen Volz, curator of the 32nd Bienal, and author and educator Valquíria Prates will be distributed free of charge in the coming months at educational actions, meetings with professors and scheduled visits during the exhibition. A digital version will be available for download at materialeducativo.32bienal.org.br
“The Bienal reaffirms the understanding that its activities can extend beyond the time and space of the exhibition. The same understanding which has led, over the last few decades, to an increasingly closer approximation with an ever increasing part of its public – educators and students – expanding access to information and reflection on contemporary art by instructing new generations,” explains Luis Terepins, president of the Fundação Bienal.
Curated by Jochen Volz along with co-curators Gabi Ngcobo (South Africa), Júlia Rebouças (Brazil), Lars Bang Larsen (Denmark) and Sofía Olascoaga (Mexico), the 32nd Bienal will be held from September 10 to December 11, 2016 at the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, featuring the work of around 90 artists and collectives from all over the world. From its conception through to its production, this educational publication has been the result of a broad collaborative effort between the curatorship and all the Fundação Bienal’s teams. In the second half of 2015, professors and social educators were invited to take part in a collaborative workshop.
“Right away we saw that it would be interesting to examine the notion of uncertainty from a series of distinct yet complementary points of view (…) Consequently, this publication, along with the curatorial research, would be structured around such themes as uncertainty and narratives, uncertainty and cosmology, uncertainty and ecology and uncertainty and education,” emphasizes curator Jochen Volz.
“We need a total upheaval in the narrative of our species. What we are told about our past glorifies only the great feats and historic achievements. In fact, humanity has survived because it knew the value of certainty but, at the same time, it was able to questions its own convictions” – Mia Couto
Conceived of as a binder so that each professor/educator would be able to appropriate and complement the ensemble, by taking or adding folders, making copies, etc. the publication combines reflective first-person essays by the teachers, writings about the work of 12 artists in the exhibition and texts by guest authors Rodrigo Nunes, Virginia Kastrup, Milene Rodrigues Martins and Mia Couto.
“We need a total upheaval in the narrative of our species. What we are told about our past glorifies only the great feats and historic achievements. In fact, humanity has survived because it knew the value of certainty but, at the same time, it was able to questions its own convictions,” writes Mia Couto in his reflection on Uncertainty and Narrative.
Exercise by Ana Helena Grimaldi developed at the workshop for the 32nd Bienal’s educational material. Published on Live Uncertainty – Artistic and Pedagogical Processes © Ana Helena Grimaldi
“The students exposed the fears that surround their personal decisions – which run counter to the institution and its teachers – and more profound thoughts regarding their relationships with spaces and the people they meet every day.“, writes professor Paulo Lorenzetti
Exercise by Marcos Felinto developed at the workshop for the 32nd Bienal’s educational material. Published on Live Uncertainty – Artistic and Pedagogical Processes © Marcos Felinto
In his reflection on the exercise he developed at the workshop based on the maps in school classrooms, professor Paulo Lorenzetti writes: “I realized that this activity had great potential for discussion, raising awareness, construction and deconstruction of knowledge and meanings of experience, because it deals directly with the student’s day-to-day routine. The proposition brought to light issues connected to the power relationships between teachers and students, the lack of autonomy and consciousness of the decisions made in school. The students exposed the fears that surround their personal decisions – which run counter to the institution and its teachers – and more profound thoughts regarding their relationships with spaces and the people they meet every day.”