Sao Paulo: Paralela 08, the off biennial

Paulistas much chagrined by the pauperism of this year’s São Paulo Biennial pointed me to its Off version, the Paralela ’08. They made sure to add “You know this isn’t a huge event either but there are a few interesting pieces over there!”

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Titled From Near and Far, the event nods to De près et de loin, a book that documents a conversation between philosopher Didier Eribon and anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss. Curator Rodrigo Moura chose artists who invite us to reflect on the influence of space in their respective works. Although the selection stretches over several continents, most of the pieces are by Brazilian artists.

It’s been a challenge to find information and good pictures about the artworks i liked the most so i’m going to highlight just a few of them and end with a slideshow, i added the name of the artwork and its author wherever i could so that you can get a better idea of what the Paralela was like (to see the titles of the pictures, i’m afraid you’ll have to click on the images and go straight to clumsy clunky flickr).

0aarubensmanio.jpgRubens Mano ‘Espaço Aberto/ Espaço Fechado’ (Open Space/Closed Space) 2002

By the entrance, the provocative and highly ironic photograph made by Rubens Mano shows the Niemeyer pavilion used for the Biennial since 1957. Empty, like most of the pavilion of the Biennial this year, it suggests the limitless potential of the unfilled site.

Lina Kim‘s Rooms are also empty but they have reached a stage of total abandonment. The photographer patiently archives rooms that have been abandoned to time. Sometimes, objects and equipment such as cables, tired wallpaper, peeling paint, fire extinguishers or metal cabinets subsist but nothing reveals what the former function of the room. But outside, the vegetation keeps growing.

0aalina2.jpgRooms Wittstock, 2008

0aalina3.jpgRooms Beelitz, 2006

Sara Ramo explores everyday life. In her photo series, Como aprender o que acontece na normalidade das coisas, Ramo investigates the moment when objects stop making sense in people’s life and generate chaotic situations. Like when she has all shampoos, soaps, towels and brushes pulled out of bathroom cupboards and laid on the floor.

0aacosiaaisi8.jpgComo aprender o que acontece na normalidade das coisas 1, 2002-2005

That was already it, i’m afraid.

Slideshow Paralela08:

On view until December 7, at the Liceu de Artes e Ofícios, Sao Paulo.