34th Sao Paulo Biennial

“Though it’s dark I’m singing”, this is the theme of the 34th Sao Paulo Biennial, which is held in Ibirapuera Park, at the Niemeyer designed Pavillon, in late Autumn 2021.

The title of the Biennial is taken from a poet of Thiago de Mello. The Amazonian poet wrote ‘Though it’s dark I’m singing, because tomorrow it's a new morning’. The poet said once, between ‘the apocalypse and the utopia, he chooses the utopia’. Dark times, as well as the need for hope suits well the universal atmosphere of the pandemic period.

Designed by a group of curators, Jacopo Crivelli Visconti, Paulo Miyada, Carla Zaccagnini, Francesco Stocchi and Ruth Estévez, the Biennial shows the particular significance of indigenous people in the history of Brazil. Among them the artist and activist Daiara Tukano exhibits four sacred birds that protect the earth from burning from the fire of the sun. At one side you see the geometrically designed bright birds, while on the other side you see the traditional feather made mantels by indigenous people, which are no longer made due to the invasion of indigenous lands.

A sad story; one of the artists of the Biennial, Jaider Esbell who influenced the Biennial’s conceptual framework, whose works exhibited in the Biennial depicted the evil spirits of the forest, ‘The War of the Kanaimes’; was found dead at a young age in his house, as if the spirit that he painted him caught him unguarded…

For detailed information about the exhibitions you can visit the English page of the Biennial’s website: http://34.bienal.org.br/en/

Do you want to check out what was the previous Biennial about? Check out our story!