3rd edition of Frestas - Arts Triennial | The river is a snake

3rd edition of Frestas - Arts Triennial opens its exhibition
this Saturday, 21st, at Sesc Sorocaba

Scheduled to open on August 21, at Sesc Sorocaba and public spaces in the city, the exhibition brings together 53 artists and collectives of different nationalities. With free access, the exhibition has reduced visiting hours and limited occupation of spaces, according to the protocols of public health agencies. It is necessary to schedule a visit in advance at sescsp.org.br/frestas

 

To bring into practice the debate on access economies, to reflect on the policies and poetics of exhibition, to investigate which solidarity strategies are possible, as well as what the bodies that, inhabiting asymmetric power structures, are saying, creating a vast world outside the world. This is the proposal of the 3rd edition of Frestas - Arts Triennial, whose exhibition, curated by the trio Beatriz Lemos, Diane Lima and Thiago de Paula Souza , opens on August 21st, 2021 at Sesc Sorocaba. This edition of Frestas is entitled O rio é uma serpente (The river is a snake ) and counts on the curatorial assistance of Camila Fontenele and the educational coordination of Renata Sampaio. On the 21st, at 7pm, there will also be the broadcasting of an opening program conducted by journalist and presenter Adriana(Didi) Couto, shown on Sesc SP's Youtube . The programme will present some of what can be expected from a visit to the exhibition, as well as details of its making process.

Participating in the exhibition, in Sorocaba, are 53 artists and collectives of different nationalities [see the complete list below]. They are names from Brazil, South Africa, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, United States, France, Holland, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic and Switzerland, who live in different countries and exhibit works in a wide range of media, from paintings to installations and performances. 15 of these artists participated in a study group, a medium-term programme for development and reflection on their processes, in the second half of 2020, together with curatorial, architectural and production teams.

Of the 53, 32 were invited to create commissioned and unpublished works for the project, they are names like Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Dalton Paula, Denilson Baniwa, Diego Araúja, Gê Viana, Lia García (La Novia Sirena), Sallisa Rosa and Sucata Quântica, Ventura Profana and Vijai Patchineelam [check out the full list below].

For Danilo Santos de Miranda, director of Sesc São Paulo, with the realization of this edition of Frestas, "it seeks to direct its cultural action, fomenting proposals that seek exits in the midst of a conjuncture of crises. The Covid-19 pandemic, a tragic collective experience that integrates this panorama, came to interpose itself in Frestas' trajectory, demanding that its course be altered. In this retracing, the Triennial doubles its bet on resilience, expanding beyond the times and spaces previously conceived".

Originally planned to have its exhibition open to the public in August 2020, the Triennial ended up starting, at that moment, with a series of formative actions. Now the institution is preparing for the opening of the exhibition that will occupy the Sesc unit and public spaces in the city of Sorocaba. The unit's cable-stayed bridge, for example, receives an artistic intervention of the work Entity, by Jaider Esbell, which can already be seen outside Sesc Sorocaba. The Biquinha Park receives works by artists Engel Leonardo and Salissa Rosa and Sucata Quântica. Jota Mombaça presents Pavimento nº 1, a painting on a public road, and Zumvi Arquivo Afro Fotográfico will have one of his photographs displayed on a billboard in the city.

In 2020, part of the programmed activities took place entirely in a digital environment: the Study Programme, which was attended by fifteen artists in the edition; The river is a snake: topics for difference and social justice, a training programme for teachers from the public network of Sorocaba that integrates the educational core; the artistic mentoring Anti-analysis, guided by Pêdra Costa; and the Programme Oriented to Subaltern Practices (POPS), conducted by Colectivo Ayllu, a collaborative group of research and artistic-political actions.

For the curators, "the platform of the 3rd Frestas - Arts Triennial investigates the possibilities, powers and challenges that transit through multiple natural, spiritual and subjective ecosystems, bringing together a set of technologies forged by other bodies that, in different historical times and spaces, were conditioned to agency permanence and access. For the exhibition to finally reach its opening moment, it was necessary to recalculate some routes, to fabricate strategies and negotiations, to reimagine the porvir. Thus, when flowing into Sorocaba, O rio é uma serpente intuits the opening of a portal that raises possibilities, reflections and dialogues beyond the now".

In the field of visual arts, Sesc São Paulo offers the public on-site and remote programming. With free access, the on-site exhibitions follow strict protocols, according to guidance from public health agencies, such as the reduced occupation of spaces and their constant cleaning. In addition, at this time, visitation is only allowed by prior booking through the Sesc São Paulo portal.

Complete list of artists of the 3rd Triennial (place of birth / place of residence)

Aimée Zito Lema (Amsterdam, Netherlands / Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Ana Pi (Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil / Paris, France) and Maria Fernanda Novo (Olímpia, São Paulo, Brazil / Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil)

Antonio Társis (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil / Salvador, Bahia, Brazil; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and London, England)

Bronwyn Katz (Kimberley, South Africa / Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa)

Carmézia (Maloca do Japó, Roraima, Brazil / Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil)

Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro (Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil / Vitória, Espírito Santo, Brazil)

ColetivA Ocupação (São Paulo, Brazil / São Paulo, Brazil)

Colectivo Ayllu (Various, Latin America / Madrid, Spain)

Dalton Paula (Brasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil / Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil)

Davi de Jesus do Nascimento (Pirapora, Minas Gerais, Brazil / Pirapora, Minas Gerais, Brazil)

Davi Pontes (São Gonçalo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Wallace Ferreira (Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Denilson Baniwa (Barcelos, Amazonas, Brazil / Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Denise Alves-Rodrigues (Itaporã, Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil / São Paulo, Brazil)

Diego Araúja (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil / Salvador, Bahia, Brazil)

Ella Vieira (Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil / Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil)

Elvira Espejo (ayllu Qaqachaka, Oruro, Bolivia / La Paz, Bolivia)

Engel Leonardo (Baní, Dominican Republic / Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)

Fernando Palma Rodríguez (San Pedro Atocpan, Mexico / Agricultural Region of Milpa Alta, Mexico)

Gê Viana (Santa Luzia, Maranhão, Brazil / São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil)

Warrior of Divine Love (Geneva, Switzerland / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Haseeb Ahmed (Toledo, Ohio, United States / Brussels, Belgium)

Iagor Peres (Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil)

Ivan Henriques (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / Amsterdam, Netherlands)

Jaider Esbell (Normandia, Roraima, Brazil / Boa Vista, Roraima, Brazil)

Johanna Unzueta (Santiago, Chile / Berlin, Germany)

Jonas van Holanda (Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil / Geneva, Switzerland)

Jota Mombaça (Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil / Lisbon, Portugal)

Juliana dos Santos (São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil / São Paulo, Brazil)

Julien Creuzet (Le Blanc-Mesnil, France / Montreuil, France)

Lais Machado (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil / Salvador, Bahia, Brazil)

Laura Lima (Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, Brazil / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Lia García (La Novia Sirena) (Mexico City, Mexico / Mexico City, Mexico)

Luana Vitra (Contagem, Minas Gerais, Brazil / Belo Horizonte and Contagem, Minas Gerais, Brazil)

Madalena dos Santos Reinbolt (Vitória da Conquista, Bahia, Brazil / Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 1977)

Marepe (Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia, Brazil / Santo Antônio de Jesus, Bahia, Brazil)

Mário Lopes (São Paulo, Brazil / Munich, Germany and Helsinki, Finland)

Muse Michelle Mattiuzzi (São Paulo, Brazil / Berlin, Germany)

Negalê Jones (Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / Magé, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil )

Noara Quintana (Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil /São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil)

Nohemí Pérez (Tibú, Colombia / Bogotá, Colombia) (Governador Valadares, Minas Gerais, Brazil / Lives and works around the world)

Pêdra Costa (Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / Berlin, Germany)

Pedro Victor Brandão (Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Rebeca Carapiá (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil / Salvador, Bahia, Brazil)

Rommulo Conceição (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil / Porto Alegre, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil)

Sabelo Mlangeni (Driefontein, Mpumalanga, South Africa / Johannesburg, South Africa)

Sallisa Rosa (Goiânia, Goiás, Brazil / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and Sucata Quântica (São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Shirley Villavicencio Pizango (Lima, Peru / Lima, Peru)

Tabita Rezaire (Paris, France / Vincennes, France)

Thiago Martins de Melo (São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil / São Luís, Maranhão and São Paulo, Brazil and Guadalajara, Mexico)

Ventura Profana (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil / Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)

Vijai Patchineelam (Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil / Belgium)

Zumvi Photo Archive (Salvador, Bahia, Brazil)

Full list of artists who participated in the Study Programme

Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro; Davi De Jesus Do Nascimento; Denilson Baniwa; Denise Alves-Rodrigues; Ella Vieira; Gê Viana; Iagor Peres; Jonas Van Holanda; Juliana Dos Santos; Lais Machado; Luana Vitra; Pedro Victor Brandão; Rebeca Carapiá; Sallisa Rosa e Ventura Profana

Full list of artists with commissioned works

Aimée Zito Lema; Ana Pi and Maria Fernanda Novo; Antonio Társis; Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro; Dalton Paula; Davi de Jesus do Nascimento; Davi Pontes and Wallace Ferreira; Denilson Baniwa; Denise Alves-Rodrigues; Diego Araúja; Ella Vieira; Gê Viana; Haseeb Ahmed; Iagor Peres; Jonas van Holanda; Jota Mombaça; Juliana dos Santos; Lais Machado; Lia García (La Novia Sirena); Luana Vitra; Mário Lopes; Musa Michelle Mattiuzzi; Negalê Jones; Noara Quintana; Paulo Nazareth; Pedro Victor Brandão; Rebeca Carapiá; Rommulo Conceição; Sallisa Rosa e Sucata Quântica; Thiago Martins de Melo; Ventura Profana; Vijai Patchineelam.

The river is a snake

By questioning the limits between the negotiable and the non-negotiable in the realization of a contemporary art exhibition in current times, the curatorial trio invited by Sesc investigates, in the Triennial, the possibilities, the powers and the challenges that transit through multiple natural, spiritual and subjective ecosystems, bringing together a set of technologies forged by other bodies that, in distinct historical times and spaces, were conditioned to agency permanence and access as the only way to ensure the maintenance of their existences.

The snake as a metaphor expanded by its broad cosmology in the most different mythical and cultural narratives acts as a viewpoint to discuss non-linear time and the effects of the countless contradictions unlocked by the advance of neoliberal capital and the systemic processes of capturing subjectivities as value generation and re-enactment of a colonial ethic.

From the bends of the rivers navigated during the curators' research trip in October 2019, the image-filled words that gave name to the title-stop of the 3rd edition of Frestas emerged. According to the curatorial trio, "it was the forms snaking through a non-linear time that helped us translate the intangible experiences of the contracts, conflicts and agreements we experienced, as well as the strategies of solidarities practiced by all those who are part of the Frestas platform. The river is a serpent because it hides and camouflages itself and, between the unpredictable and the mystery, it creates strategies in its own movement".

The research for this 3rd edition began with processes of listening and exchanges with different cultural agents in Sorocaba and region, expanding to Boa Vista and the indigenous land Raposa-Serra do Sol, in Roraima; Manaus and the surroundings of the Tupana River, in Amazonas; Belém, in Pará; Serra da Capivara National Park, in Piauí; Alcântara and São Luís, in Maranhão.

By discharging in Sorocaba, O rio é uma serpente resumes the dialogue with the city articulating looks to its geographies and possibilities of affectation, meeting and memory with agents, collectives, groups, artists, independent culture centres, community radios and libraries. In this way, it creates new landscapes questioning how codes and languages are created and which mechanisms are compact with the maintenance of infrastructures that regulate power dynamics, legitimize discourses, condition accesses, brake criticism and forge an idea of pacification and consensus.

Frestas - Triennial of Arts

Frestas is a triennial initiative structured in three axes - public program, publications and exhibition - that makes up the broad cultural agenda held by Sesc São Paulo. It is, above all, a transdisciplinary platform that promotes new performances and reflections in a broader field of the visual arts, also bringing the attention of the public and the circuit in a more decentralized manner. Frestas is about passage, crack, rupture, that is, it is an opening for a new democratic place of performance.

In order to bring together local artists and regional and international productions and establish a dialogue between social issues specific to the Brazilian context and reflections from the global sphere, the Triennial presents, since October 2020, a public and online program of activities, debates and workshops - actions that promote diverse discussions in the field of contemporary art - and, from August 2021, will bring the launch of publications and the opening of the exhibition.

The project takes place at the Sesc unit located in Sorocaba, 100 kilometres from the state capital. Since 2014, the Arts Triennial has been dedicated to discussing and problematizing the urgent issues that guide the present day. The construction of a triennial from the urgencies of a city in the interior of the state of SP evokes looks to decentralize the consecrated axes of artistic circuits, extending the reach of diversified audiences, creating and expanding procedural networks and enabling symbolic exchanges. Due to the dimension and relevance of the program, Frestas has collaborated with the expansion of the contemporary art scene in the state of São Paulo. Besides, it has also contributed to the training of art-educators and the formation of networks of cultural professionals outside the capital cities, and, locally, it has consequently encouraged the promotion of arts in the interior of the state, as well as the decentralization of cultural activities.

Frestas is a realization of Sesc São Paulo and, in this edition, counts with the support of the Consulate General of France in São Paulo, the Swiss Arts Foundation Pro Helvetia, PlattformPLUS, Kulturreferat Munchen, AVEK, Kenno Filmi, Aue-Stiftung and the Sorocaba City Hall.

About Sesc São Paulo

Sesc - Commerce Social Service is a private, non-profit institution, created in 1946 by the entrepreneurs of commerce and services throughout Brazil. In the state of São Paulo, Sesc has 42 centres that congregate its areas of action in the fields of culture, education, sports, leisure and health. The actions of Sesc São Paulo are guided by its educational character and by the search for social welfare based on a broad understanding of the term culture. In this sense, full accessibility to the spaces and contents offered by the institution aims to democratize cultural goods as a form of individual autonomy.

In the field of visual arts, the institution plays the role of disseminator of contemporary artistic production and other historical periods, as well as the intersections with other artistic languages, with a guideline to hold exhibitions for all audiences. Projects are also carried out with installations, interventions and performances, as well as educational activities and mediation in various formats, focusing on the qualified service to both scheduled groups and the spontaneous public, seeking, above all, the achievement of a sensitive education and the stimulation of autonomy and freedom of choice.

URGENT ACTION AGAINST HUNGER

Aiming to expand the network of solidarity to bring food to people in situations of social vulnerability, Sesc São Paulo, in partnership with Senac São Paulo, is holding a non-perishable food collection campaign at the Sesc and Senac units throughout the state. There are over 100 collection points in the capital, metropolitan region, countryside and coast. The donations are distributed to social institutions that are partners of Mesa Brasil Sesc, which give the items to 120,000 assisted families. Urgent Action Against Hunger is an initiative of Sesc São Paulo, through Mesa Brasil Sesc, a programme created by the institution 26 years ago that seeks food where there is a surplus to distribute to places that are lacking. What to donate: non-perishable foods such as rice, beans, powdered milk, oil, cornmeal, canned sardines, pasta, tomato sauce, cornmeal and cassava flour. Sesc makes the population aware of the importance of responsible donation, with quality items and within the validity period. Learn more

MESA BRASIL SESC SÃO PAULO 

 In parallel with the Urgent Action Against Hunger campaign, the solidarity network that brings together donor companies and registered social institutions continues its activities, searching where there is surplus and delivering to places where there is a lack, contributing to the reduction of food insecurity for children, young people, adults and the elderly and reducing food waste. 

Today, 19 Sesc units in the state - in the capital, interior and coast - operate Mesa Brasil. The teams responsible for the daily collection and delivery of food were specially trained in Covid-19 prevention protocols, with all the information and individual and collective protection equipment necessary to prevent contagion. 

Learn+ sescsp.org.br/ mesabrasil  

+ Visual Arts on SescTV

In August, SescTV premieres a special program dedicated to the Brazilian visual arts with the highlight being the series "Arteries", an unprecedented production directed by Helena Bagnoli and Henk Nieman, of 26 episodes, with artists from various generations and regions of the country presenting their concerns and works. In each episode, a contemporary artist is portrayed and four of them participate in this edition of Frestas - Arts Triennial. They are: Denilson Baniwa, Paulo Nazareth, Jaider Esbell and Dalton Paula. The programme premieres on the channel on 27 August.

+ Arteries

The series of 26 minidocumentaries that SescTV premieres in August makes a mapping of contemporary artists, among Afro-Brazilians, indigenous and LGBTQI+ as protagonists. Directed by Helena Bagnoli and Henk Nieman, the production reveals the strength of the manifestations originating in Brazil's deepest roots, with artists from various generations and regions of the country. "Arteries" premieres on 27 February and will remain on air until February 2022. With statements from the artists and images of the works, their interaction with the cities and their surroundings, the series shows the dialogue between tradition and modernity. All the episodes shown on TV are also available on the channel's website for the public to watch or re-watch whenever they want. Just access sesctv.org.br and check it out for free, with no need to register

Service

3rd edition of Frestas - Arts Triennial | The river is a snake
Location: Sesc Sorocaba

Face-to-face exhibition period: 21 August 2021 to 30 January 2022

Booking through the website sescsp.org.br/frestas
Curator: Beatriz Lemos, Diane Lima and Thiago de Paula Souza.
Curator Assistance: Camila Fontenele

Educational Coordinator: Renata Sampaio

Free
Rating: free

Sesc Sorocaba
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