Pooling voices sensitive to contemporary impasses, drawn from different fields, fronts, and backgrounds, the Seminars explore such themes as the invention of a new political imagination, the particularities of time that have emerged since the advent of virtual life, a de-colonial approach to current feminisms, and the reverberation of the symbolic production of indigenous peoples and social movements.
A central axis on which the Public Programs are plotted at the 21st Biennial, the meetings are designed to generate opportunities to produce previously unheard-of forms of thinking the future, both around and beyond the works on display, and with room for discussion and dissension.
The Seminars are held at the Theater (lower ground) and Auditorium (6th floor), in two stages, spanning three consecutive evenings apiece. The first takes place between October 15 and 17, and the second, November 12 and 15. In the interests of more thorough access, all sessions will have simultaneous translation in sign language.
The addresses prepared by the speakers were edited for publication under the title Leituras [Readings], which, along with the catalogue of works and artists, completes the 21st Biennial's editorial platform.
MARIANA CAVALCANTI — Associate lecturer at Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro’s Department of Social Studies, where she researches cities. She coordinates Grupo Casa, which studies housing and the city, codirected the documentary Favela fabril (2012) and coedited the collection Occupy All Streets: Olympic urbanism and contested futures in Rio de Janeiro (Terreform, 2016).
CARLA CAFFÉ — Caffé works in cinema, art, illustration, and graphic design. She teaches drawing at the Escola da Cidade, São Paulo, and is the author of the book Era o hotel Cambridge – arquitetura, cinema e educação (Edições Sesc, 2017) and the artist’s book A(e)rea Paulista (Galeria Vermelho, 2011). Her work as art director includes the movie Central Station (1998).
MARILIA LOUREIRO — Curator of Casa do Povo, in São Paulo, since 2017. She has also worked for the Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo, Masp, and on the 33rd Bienal de São Paulo (2018), and has collaborated widely with independent art spaces, particularly Lugar a Dudas (Cali, Colombia), Capacete (Rio de Janeiro), Ateliê397 and Pivô (both in São Paulo).