Curitiba Biennial Presents “Antipodes – Profusion of Image”

Line at the entrance of the main exhibition of the Curitiba Biennial at the Museum Oscar Niemeyer in 2015
Photo: Curitiba Biennial Team

Curitiba Biennial ‘17
Antipodes – Profusion of Image
September 30, 2017 – February 25, 2018
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The Curitiba Biennial is one of the largest contemporary art events in the world circuit, bringing together artists and curators from all continents in a wide programming that reaches the entire city. In the 2017 edition, the Biennial will occupy more than 100 cultural spaces in Curitiba with the best of contemporary art. There will be five months of art, various performances and activities, from September 30 to February 25. China will be the country honored by the Biennial during this period through artworks of Chinese artists, under the curatorship of Fan Dian, Fang Zhenning and Liu Chunfeng.

The title of the Curitiba Biennial 2017, “Antipodes – Profusion of Image,” hints the promise of this year’s exhibition presenting diverse cultures and techniques, aiming to employ photography as primary inspiration. According to the curator Tício Escobar, the term ‘Antipodes’ refers to positions that are situated diametrically opposite to one another. This title was chosen for this Biennial to metaphorically indicate geographical points radically distant from one another. China, the honored country of this edition, defines an extreme point in relation to Latin American countries. However, culture, especially in its artistic manifestations, has the possibility of creating links and drawing diagrams between the most distant places. Image is, by antonomasia, a device capable of joining distant points. The idea of diversity, one of the focal points of this biennial, is reinforced by the connection of zones and situations that are opposites but overlap without risking their differences.

The subtitle “Profusion of image” refers to the contemporary phenomenon of post-photography, also one of the themes of this biennial. The production of digital image today is superior to the capacity of its reception and use. Our vision is confronted with a profusion of visual information that surpasses its capacity for assimilation. This situation is faced by contemporary art through different strategies that overcome the scope of conventional photography, requiring solutions beyond it – what could be qualified as “expanded photography”, crossed by different techniques and based on varied conceptual reinforcements.

Museum Oscar Nieneyer – MON
Photo: Curitiba Biennial Team