18ª e 19ª bienais de São Paulo: curadoria entre a prática e o debate no Brasil

Abstract

From the context of emergency and consolidation of the curator’s activity of organizing contemporary art exhibitions in the international artistic sphere, this analysis focuses on two editions of the Sao Paulo Art Biennial (the 18th and 19th ones, promoted in 1985 and 1987, respectively) to understand the conditions and consequences of this profession in Brazil. Here we study the curatorial projects of the art critic Sheila Leirner in its uniqueness and in relation to other events held in similar institutions. Questioning the approach already established by the Brazilian historiography about these two curatorial proposals ("Man and Life" and "Utopia vs. Reality"), this research scrutinizes the critical debate raised by them within and outside the country. We also link selections of art works and artists, expography, theoretical discourse and legitimation power to Leirner’s critic production and the transformations in public policy for culture and cultural institutions status during the 1980s, connecting them to the processes of globalization of art and political redemocratization in Brazil.