The formation, preservation and activation of this collection were the topic of a conversation between Solange Farkas, Fabio Cypriano and Eduardo de Jesus, in the second Public Programs meeting of the exhibition Unerasable Memories – a historic look at the videobrasil collection. To Farkas, this first exhibition to feature Videobrasil Collection artworks exclusively is an example of Associação Cultural Videobrasil’s strategies to activate its collection. Eduardo de Jesus remarks that the Unerasable Memories show marks the first time Associação Cultural Videobrasil looks at its own collection and proposes new connections, an initiative that will possibly become more frequent in the organization’s actions. Fabio Cypriano, the meeting’s mediator, emphasized the exhibition and the collection’s strong political slant and the respect shown by Videobrasil towards the artists it invites to become part of the collection. Moreover, Solange points out that the roughly majority of the artists shortlisted for the Festival agree to donate their works to Associação, both because this guarantees the preservation of their art – a very delicate issue considering the progress of technology and the changing media – and because of Videobrasil’s continuous efforts to make said works public.

Solange O. Farkas Founder of Associação Cultural Videobrasil and curator-general of the 18th Festival. She was the director and curator-in-chief at the Bahia Art Museum from 2007 to 2010, and a guest curator at the biennials of Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) and Cerveira (Portugal) in 2011.

Eduardo de Jesus (Belo Horizonte, Brazil, 1967) Curator and professor at the postgraduate program of the School of Communication and Arts at the Pontifical Catholic University of Minas Gerais (Brazil). He co-curated Densidade Local, at the Festival Transitio-MX in Mexico City (2008). Member of the curating board for the Southern Panoramas show.

Fabio Cypriano (São Paulo, Brazil, 1966) is an art critic and reporter of the newspaper Folha de S Paulo, and collaborator in various specialized magazines. He is a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (Brazil) since 1995.