press information
september2010
TERREIROS
The Terreiros(*) were created by participating artists and architects and are presented in the 29th
Bienal Internacional de Arte de São Paulo as true living spaces reserved for visitors to give
themselves a pause, as well as for holding several activities such as performances, screenings and
readings. Six thematic spaces were created for highlighting the deep presence of art in life: “O outro,
o mesmo” ("The other one, the same one") by Carlos Teixeira; “A pele do invisível” ("The skin of the
invisible") by Tobias Putrih; “Eu sou a rua” ("I am the street") by UN Studio; “Dito, não dito,
interdito” ("Said, not said, interdict") by Roberto Loeb and Kboco; “Longe daqui, aqui mesmo” ("Far
from here, right here") by Marilá Dardot and Fábio Morais and “Lembrança e esquecimento”
("Memories and oblivion") by Ernesto Neto.
(*) “Terreiros” (freely translated as "yards") remind us of squares, plazas, terraces, temples and
courtyards - open or closed spaces that can be found all over Brazil, where people dance, fight, sing,
play games or instruments, cry, talk or express the country’s hybrid religiousness.
O outro, o mesmo (The other one, the same one)
Carlos Teixeira
This will be the terreiro where the performances in the 29th Bienal will happen. The name was
borrowed by its creator Carlos Teixeira from the book of Argentine author Jorge Luís Borges. It is a
modular space built in pressed cardboard structures on wheels and is designed for presentations that
have the body - its expression, positioning and performance - as the main theme. The originally
conceived modules that form the terreiro define a space that is isolated from its surroundings and is
in contact with the exhibition space. They can be used for resting, conversation or meeting. At other
times the terreiro becomes mazy, and delimits an open arena that brings out the fragile contiguity
between the inside and the outside. The terreiro's location, at the exhibition entrance and bathed by
the light that enters through the glass wall that separates it from the park outside, imposes the
fragility of the representation mechanisms, always under threat of being diluted into the flow of
events that surround it.
A pele do invisível (The skin of the invisible)
Tobias Putrih
This terreiro, signed by Slovenian artist Tobias Putrih, is where audiovisual projections will be held. It
is conceived to work as a projection room and is based on the external structures of the Alvorada
Palace in Brasília. The organic pillars support cardboard roofing that covers the space where the
projections will take place. This terreiro will have a regular schedule of films and videos organized
into 10 programs. The visitors will be able to have a more extensive contact with both the works
shown in the exhibition and with the general issues discussed by the curators. The works in the
programs point out the non-specific character of contemporary audiovisual production, which
smudges the borders between document, cinema, amateur video and art video
Eu sou a rua (I am the street)
UN Studio
This is a space for discursive activities and celebrates Carioca (a native of Rio de Janeiro) journalist
and columnist João do Rio. The terreiro will be a site for talks, artist actions, round tables, public
interviews and reading sessions. The design by UN Studio from Holland reminds us of the
predominant white and the curves of Oscar Niemeyer's architectural style and privileges the
proximity, and even the confusion, between speakers and spectators. The design originates from a
rotation movement of its three extremities, creating an arena for an audience of about forty, so that
the public may, at different times, rest, speak, listen, debate.
Dito, não dito, interdito (Said, not said, interdict)
Roberto Loeb e Kboco
This terreiro evokes the work of Brazilian writer Guimarães Rosa and creates a space for debates and
conversation. It is a meeting place close to the Bienal entrance and is works as an open-air
auditorium or plaza. Its grandstand, floor and stage are open to invention and meeting and are an
invitation from Bienal to public organization, to associations, for complaints or for protesting. The
space also represents the open concept of a terreiro by tensioning the membrane that separates the
Bienal, the building that houses it, its surroundings, the park, the city, and the uses and relationships
that evolve inside it. The design was jointly developed by artist Kboco and architect Roberto Loeb.
Lembrança e esquecimento (Memories and oblivion)
Ernesto Neto
“Lembrança e esquecimento” terreiro is a space for a breather, reflection and rest, and creates a
pause in the exhibition's rhythm. It is the place to sit or lie down, close the eyes, meet people, start
conversation, observe Bienal's surroundings. This terreiro invites visitors to plunge into its rooms and
niches modulated in many colors and in several levels of openings to the outside. This is the space in
which Bienal invites the public to engage in doing nothing, abandoning the efforts of action and
reception, construction and disassembling of senses required by the works, by the other terreiros
and by the exhibition itself. This is precisely why this terreiro has no programming scheduled.
Longe daqui, aqui mesmo (Far from here, right here)
Marilá Dardot e Fábio Morais
This terreiro, which takes its name from the text of the same name by Brazilian writer and playwright
Antonio Bivar, is 29th Bienal's library. The space is designed as a masonry maze where the walls and
floors are covers of works that became the cornerstones of universal literature. The space is a result
of collaborative action. In a first moment the artists participating in the Bienal responded with a
donation to this question: "Which book would you build your house with?" In a second stage, "Longe
daqui, aqui mesmo" made a public call for artist books: not for catalogs, or for decorative books, but
for books that represented artists' incursions in the field of literature. During the Bienal the library
will remain open to the public, who will also be invited to donate books.