The São Paulo Art Biennial (Portuguese: Bienal de São Paulo) was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the third oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale (in existence since 1895) and the Menton Biennale (started earlier in 1951 ), which serves as its role model.
History
The Biennial was founded by the Italian-Brazilian industrialist Ciccillo Matarazzo (1898–1977). Since 1957, the São Paulo Biennial has been held in the Ciccillo Matarazzo pavilion in the Parque do Ibirapuera.Gabriella Angeleti (July 9, 2021), Bienal de São Paulo celebrates its 70th anniversary this month with a podcast series and other programmes The Art Newspaper. The three-story pavilion was designed by a team led by architects Oscar Niemeyer and Hélio Uchôa, and provides an exhibition space of 30,000 m2. The São Paulo Bienal features Brazilian and international contemporary art and is one of South America's most important large-scale art exhibitions.Fundação Bienal de São Paulo Biennial Foundation, Athens.
After the completion of the 6th Biennial, the São Paulo Biennial Foundation was created to advance the exhibition, which until then had been organized by the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP).Gabriella Angeleti (July 9, 2021), Bienal de São Paulo celebrates its 70th anniversary this month with a podcast series and other programmes The Art Newspaper. The pavilion the institution occupies - its home to this day - only began holding the Bienal exhibitions starting with its 4th edition in 1957.
Since 1951, 32 Bienals have been produced with the participation of 170 countries, more than 16 thousand artists and almost 10 million visitors, making direct contact possible between the Brazilian public and visual, theatrical and graphic arts, music, film, architecture, and other forms of artistic expression from around the world. The 1998 edition cost almost $12 million and drew nearly 400,000 visitors during a two-month run.Larry Rohter (July 11, 2001), Undeterred by Crises, São Paulo Biennial Celebrates at 50 New York Times. The 25th biennial was originally scheduled for 2000 but was delayed to 2002 after a gigantic exhibition marking the 500th anniversary of Brazil's discovery by the Portuguese was organized by former biennial president Edemar Cid Ferreira and booked into the Ciccillo Matarazzo pavilion.Larry Rohter (May 27, 2002), A Tilt Toward the Third World at the São Paulo Biennial New York Times. That year, for the first time, the chief curator of the biennial was a foreigner, Alfons Hug from Germany.
The biennial's initial aim was to make contemporary art (primarily from Western Europe and the United States) known in Brazil, push the country's access to the current art scene in other metropolises, and establish São Paulo itself as an international art center. Naturally, the biennial always serves to bring Brazilian art closer to foreign guests.
Artists, works and countries +TitleDateDirectors / CuratorsArtistsWorksCountries1st BienalOct 20 – Dec 23, 1951President of MAM-SP: Ciccillo Matarazzo
Artistic Director: Lourival Gomes Machado7291854252nd BienalDec 13, 1953 – Feb 26, 1954 President of MAM-SP: Ciccillo Matarazzo
Artistic Director: Sérgio Milliet
Technical Director: Wolfgang Pfeiffer7123374333rd BienalJul 2 – Oct 12, 1955President of MAM-SP: Ciccillo Matarazzo
Artistic Director: Sérgio Milliet
Technical Director: Wolfgang Pfeiffer4632074314th BienalSep 22 – Dec 30, 1957President of MAM-SP: Ciccillo Matarazzo
Artistic Director: Sérgio Milliet
Technical Director: Wolfgang Pfeiffer5993800435th BienalSep 21 – Dec 31, 1959President of MAM-SP: Ciccillo Matarazzo
Artistic Director: Lourival Gomes Machado6893804476th BienalOct 1 – Dec 31, 1961President of MAM-SP: Ciccillo Matarazzo
General Director: Mário Pedrosa6814990507th BienalSep 28 – Dec 22, 1963President of Bienal: Ciccillo Matarazzo
General Director: Mário Pedrosa
Consultants: Geraldo Ferraz, Sérgio Milliet, Walter Zanini (Plastic Arts);
Aldo Calvo, Sábato Magaldi (Theater); Jannar Murtinho Ribeiro (Graphic Arts)6254131558th BienalSep 4 – Nov 28, 1965President of Bienal: Ciccillo Matarazzo
General Director: Mário Pedrosa
Consultants: Geraldo Ferraz, Sérgio Milliet, Walter Zanini (Plastic Arts);
Aldo Calvo, Sábato Magaldi (Theater); Jannar Murtinho Ribeiro (Graphic Arts)6534054549th BienalSep 22 – Dec 8, 1967President of Bienal: Ciccillo Matarazzo
Consultants for Plastic Arts: Alfredo Mesquita, Geraldo Ferraz,
Henrique E. Mindlin, Jayme Maurício, José Geraldo Vieira, Salvador Candia95646386310th BienalSep 27 – Dec 14, 1969President of Bienal: Ciccillo Matarazzo
Art Technical Committee: Aracy Amaral, Edyla Mangabeira Unger,
Frederico Nasser, Mário Barata, Waldemar Cordeiro, Wolfgang Pfeiffer44625725311th BienalSep 4 – Nov 15, 1971President of Bienal: Ciccillo Matarazzo
Art Technical Committee: Antonio Bento, Geraldo Ferraz, Sérgio Ferro35124595712th BienalOct 5 – Dec 2, 1973President of Bienal: Ciccillo Matarazzo
Technical Secretariat: Antonio Bento, Bethy Giudice, Ciccillo Matarazzo,
Mário Wilches, Vilém Flusser46824844913th BienalOct 17 – Dec 14, 1975President of Bienal: Ciccillo Matarazzo
Council for Art and Culture: Aldemir Martins, Isabel Moraes Barros,
José Simeão Leal, Norberto Nicola, Olívio Tavares de Araújo,
Olney Krüse, Wolfgang Pfeiffer28015794314th BienalOct 1 – Nov 30, 1977President of Bienal: Oscar Landmann
Council for Art and Culture: Alberto Beuttenmüller, Clarival do Prado Valladares,
Leopoldo Raimo, Lisetta Levi, Marc Berkowitz, Maria Bonomi, Yolanda Mohalyi3024763615th BienalOct 3 – Dec 16, 1979President of Bienal: Luiz Fernando Rodrigues Alves
Cultural Advisor: Carlos von Schmidt
Council for Art and Culture: Casimiro Xavier de Mendonça, Emmanuel von
Lauenstein Massarani, Esther Emílio Carlos, Geraldo Edson de Andrade,
João Cândido Martins Galvão Barros, Pedro Manuel Gismondi,
Radha Abramo, Wolfgang Pfeiffer1583024316th BienalOct 16 – Dec 20, 1981President of Bienal: Luiz Diederichsen Villares
General Curator: Walter Zanini
Curators: Petrônio França, Agnaldo Farias, Samuel Eduardo Leon, Cacilda
Teixeira da Costa, Gabriela Suzana, Julio Plaza, Annateresa Fabris,
Victor Musgrave, Josette Balsa / Associate Curators: Roberto Sandoval,
Cida Galvão, Marília Saboya, Renata Barros21317663217th BienalOct 14 – Dec 18, 1983President of Bienal: Luiz Diederichsen Villares
General Curator: Walter Zanini
Curators: Julio Plaza, Berta Sichel, Walter Zanini, Rui Moreira Leite,
Gino Di Maggio, Norberto Nicola / Cinema Curators: Agnaldo Farias,
Samuel Eduardo Leon18716504318th BienalOct 4 – Dec 15, 1985President of Bienal: Roberto Muylaert
General Curator: Sheila Leirner21416744519th BienalOct 2 – Dec 13, 1987President of Bienal: Jorge Wilheim
General Curator: Sheila Leirner
Curators: Ivo Mesquita, Sônia Salzstein-Goldberg, Gabriela S. Wilder,
Arturo Schwarz, Rafael França, Joice Joppert Leal, Angela Carvalho,
Ana Maria Kieffer21517405320th BienalOct 14 – Dec 10, 1989President of Bienal: Alex Periscinoto
Curators: Carlos von Schmidt (International), Stella Teixeira de Barros
(National), João Cândido Galvão (Special Events)14318244121st BienalSep 21 – Dec 10, 1991President of Bienal: Jorge Eduardo Stockler
General Curator: João Cândido Galvão
Curators: Ana Helena Curti, Gloria Cristina Motta14410283222nd BienalOct 12 – Dec 11, 1994President of Bienal: Edemar Cid Ferreira
Curator: Nelson Aguilar2069727023rd BienalOct 5 – Dec 8, 1996President of Bienal: Edemar Cid Ferreira
General Curator: Nelson Aguilar
Associate Curator: Agnaldo Farias13411817524th BienalOct 3 – Dec 3, 1998President of Bienal: Julio Landman
General Curator: Paulo Herkenhoff
Associate Curator: Adriano Pedrosa32611405425th BienalMar 23 – Jun 2, 2002President of Bienal: Carlos Bratke
General Curator: Alfons Hug
Brazilian Nucleus Curator: Agnaldo Farias1945466826th BienalSep 25 – Dec 19, 2004President of Bienal: Manoel Francisco Pires da Costa
General Curator: Alfons Hug1414006127th BienalOct 7 – Dec 17, 2006President of Bienal: Manoel Francisco Pires da Costa
General Curator: Lisette Lagnado
Co-curators: Adriano Pedrosa, Cristina Freire, José Roca, Rosa Martínez
Guest Curator: Jochen Volz1186455128th BienalOct 26 – Dec 6, 2008President of Bienal: Manoel Francisco Pires da Costa
General Curator: Ivo Mesquita
Associate Curator: Ana Paula Cohen41542029th BienalSep 25 – Dec 12, 2010President of Bienal: Heitor Martins
Chief-curators: Agnaldo Farias, Moacir dos Anjos
Guest Curators: Chus Martinez, Fernando Alvim, Rina Carvajal,
Sarat Maharaj, Yuko Hasegawa 1598504030th BienalSep 7 – Dec 7, 2012President of Bienal: Heitor Martins
Curator: Luis Pérez-Oramas
Associate Curators: André Severo, Tobi Maier
Assistant Curator: Isabela Villanueva11137963131st BienalSep 6 – Dec 7, 2014President of Bienal: Luis Terepins
Curators: Charles Esche, Pablo Lafuente, Nuria Enguita Mayo,
Galit Eilat, Oren Sagiv
Associate Curators: Benjamin Seroussi, Luiza Proença69813432nd BienalSep 7 – Dec 11, 2016President of Bienal: Luis Terepins
Curator: Jochen Volz
Co-curators: Gabi Ngcobo, Júlia Rebouças, Lars Bang Larsen, Sofía Olascoaga814153333rd BienalSep 7 – Dec 9, 2018President of Bienal: João Carlos de Figueiredo Ferraz
Curator: Gabriel Perez-Barreiro
Artist-curators: Alejandro Cesarco, Antonio Ballester Moreno, Claudia Fontes, Mamma Andersson, Sofia Borges, Waltercio Caldas, Wura-Natasha Ogunji10360034th BienalSep 4 – Dec 5, 2021President of Bienal: José Olympio da Veiga Pereira
Curator: Jacopo Crivelli Visconti
Co-curators: Paulo Miyada, Carla Zaccagnini, Francesco Stocchi, Ruth Estévez9111003935th BienalSep 6 – Dec 10, 2023President of Bienal: José Olympio da Veiga Pereira
Curators: Diane Lima, Grada Kilomba, Hélio Menezes, Manuel Borja-Villel121110036th BienalSep 6, 2025 – Jan 11, 2026 President of Bienal: Andrea Pinheiro
Curator: Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung
Co-curators: Keyna Eleison, Alya Sebti, Anna Roberta Goetz, Thiago de Paula Souza
Highlights year by year
1st Bienal, 1951 The first Bienal was held by the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo (MAM-SP) in a temporary pavilion located on the Belvedere Trianon, in the neighborhood along Paulista Avenue. Abraham Palatnik’s first Aparelho cinecromático (1949) was initially rejected by the selection committee on the grounds that it did not fit any of the established categories, though the work was later accepted and awarded an honorable mention by the international jury.
2nd Bienal, 1953 Known as the “Guernica Bienal”, in reference to Pablo Picasso’s 1937 masterpiece, the 2nd Bienal is by far one of the most memorable editions of the event. Exhibiting twice as many artworks as the first edition, the 2nd Bienal was held at two pavilions designed for the newly inaugurated Ibirapuera Park by Oscar Niemeyer (1917-2012): the States Pavilion (presently the Pavilion of Brazilian Cultures) and the Nations Pavilion (now home to the Afro Brasil Museum). The exhibition continued into the following year as part of the celebrations for São Paulo's 400th anniversary.
3rd Bienal, 1955 Having established itself as an important event in international art world, the Bienal's 3rd edition featured the Mexican muralists Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco and David Alfaro Siqueiros.
4th Bienal, 1957 In the 4th Bienal, many Brazilian artists contested the selection process and Ciccillo Matarazzo's inordinate influence. This was the first time the Bienal was held at its present home, the Industry Pavilion at Ibirapuera Park. This edition was surrounded by controversy when works by several leading names in the Brazilian art scene, such as Flávio de Carvalho, were turned down by the selection jury. The abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock, who died the year before, was honoured with a special room organized by the American delegation, which marked the height of his international renown.
5th Bienal, 1959