[spectre] Fwd: Open call for artists: 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil

[Andreas Broeckmann]

Call for artists for 22nd edition of Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil

*Application period:* August 1 – September 2, 2022

*Sesc 24 de Maio*
Rua 24 de Maio
São Paulo
Brazil

https://site.videobrasil.org.br

 From August 1 through September 2, 2022, the 22nd Biennial 
Sesc_Videobrasil holds an open call for artists. This edition will be 
held in October 2023, in São Paulo, after being postponed for two years 
due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biennial will receive submissions of 
works in any format and language, from artists and/or collectives born 
and/or based in countries of the Global South, from the Community of 
Portuguese-Speaking Countries (CPLP), or residing in them for at least 
five years, as well as Indigenous artists of any nationality.

*About the 22nd Biennial Sesc_Videobrasil*
With its characteristic dynamism, the event reaches its 22nd edition in 
2023 with the title “Memory is an editing station”—a sentence taken from 
the poem “Open Letter to John Ashbery,” by Waly Salomão (1943–2003). 
Curated by the Raphael Fonseca, from Brazil, and Renée Akitelek Mboya, 
from Kenya, the Biennial also marks the 40th anniversary of Videobrasil, 
initially an event dedicated to video, but which over the decades 
expanded to the most varied artistic media. In this celebration, “it is 
therefore necessary not only to reflect on time and the many conceptions 
of memory, but also to revisit the importance of video in these four 
decades,” write the curators. It is also worth noting that in 
contemporaneity, the possibilities of editing have been transformed, and 
become more agile and within reach of our fingertips in many 
technological devices of everyday use.

Far beyond these particular “editing stations,” the 22nd Biennial seeks 
to select works that address collective memories, the dynamic of 
remembrance and forgetfulness that build historical and social 
narratives, related to peoples, nations and geographic regions. “What 
are the ethical boundaries of a cut?” Who holds the power to do so? How 
to forge the memory of what we didn’t see or feel in our bodies? What 
are the limits of memory?”, question the curators.

Founder and artistic director of Videobrasil, who held her first 
Festival in 1983, Solange Farkas calls attention to the context in which 
the open call for artists is being held, after more than two years of a 
pandemic that has left millions dead around the globe. The idea of 
survival, therefore, emerges as an essential desire, as well as the need 
to look at such a recent and already traumatic past. “Surviving in the 
face of adversity is necessary, and the Biennial cherishes the 
expression of different voices, ways of negotiating the historical past 
and forms of reflecting on image creation today.”

*Awards*
Those selected will take part in the exhibition at Sesc 24 de Maio (São 
Paulo, Brazil) and compete for the following prizes, to be awarded by 
the 22nd Biennial:

*State of the Art Award*: given to the work considered by the jury to be 
the most thought-provoking, powerful and significant in the Biennial.

*Sesc Contemporary Art Award*: given to outstanding works in the 22nd 
Biennial, *produced by Brazilian artists and/or collectives* that will 
be included in the Sesc Brazilian Art Collection.

*O.F.F. Award*: offered by the Ostrovsky Family Fund, it is given to a 
participating artist, of *any nationality*, who presents an original 
investigation of the moving image.

*Artistic residency* prizes will also be given, which will provide 
residency periods at partner institutions. Prizes include airfare, 
accommodation and per diem during residencies, which have an eight-week 
duration.

*About the organizers

Associação Cultural Videobrasil*
Founded by Solange Farkas in 1991, Associação Cultural Videobrasil is 
the result of the desire to institutionally host the growing collection 
of works and publications gathered since the first Festival Videobrasil, 
held in 1983. Since then, the association has been working 
systematically to activate its collection, which brings together pieces 
from the Global South, classics of video art and in-house works and a 
vast collection of publications on art. In addition to the 
Sesc_Videobrasil Biennial, the Association also carries out important 
activities of research, diffusion and mapping concerning its collection: 
national and international exhibitions; touring shows; publications; TV 
programs; documentaries; seminars; workshops and meetings with artists 
and researchers; and artistic residency programs, in connection with a 
worldwide collaborative network.

*Sesc—Social Service of Commerce*
Sesc—Social Service of Commerce is a private, non-profit institution 
created in 1946 by entrepreneurs in the fields of commerce and services 
throughout Brazil. In the state of São Paulo, Sesc has over 40 centers 
focused in the areas of culture, education, sports, leisure and health. 
Sesc São Paulo receives roughly 20 million visits annually. The work of 
Sesc São Paulo is guided by its educational role and by the pursuit of 
social well-being based on a broad notion of culture. In this sense, the 
unlimited access to the spaces and contents offered by the institution 
targets at the democratization of cultural assets as a form of autonomy 
of the individual. In the field of visual arts, the institution’s main 
role is to foster and disseminate the contemporary artistic production 
and the study of the production of previous historical periods, as well 
as the intersections with other artistic languages, having as its 
central guideline the organization of exhibitions for all audiences.

Read here the *curatorial approach* of the *22nd Biennial 
Sesc_Videobrasil*: 
https://site.videobrasil.org.br/en/inscricao/partido-curatorial

Access the *open call*: 
https://site.videobrasil.org.br/en/inscricao/regulamento

If you have any questions, email us: 22bienal at videobrasil.org.br