Since its first edition in 1951, the São Paulo Bienal has sought to examine contemporary cultural production from the vantage point of Brazil and its place within the international context. However, unlike other large-scale exhibitions held in cities with relatively small populations, ours takes place in one of the largest metropolises in the world, in a country where access to art and the transformative power it wields is still severely limited
In this issue involved, thanks to the collaboration of AC / E, two Spanish artists: Benet Rossell and Daniel Steegmann. Based on an intimate relationship with calligraphy, Benet Rossell works with ephemeral situations that normally go unnoticed. Incorporating films, drawings, prints, poems and paintings, his works employ a variety of mediums. Rossell explores the complexity of the simple and has created his own alphabet of icons, “Benigrams,” replete with ideograms and calligraphic drawings that are never repeated, and which coexist and connect in such a way that they are always unique and are constantly reinvented. He blends concrete elements, such as water and trees, with abstract ideas, such as the infinite, emptiness, humor and irony. Rossell's alphabet seems to give voice to the wonder of everyday existence.
The seductiveness of the unknown filtered through multifaceted perception permeates the work of Daniel Steegmann Mangrané. His foreign perspective on Brazil invites the spectator to discover different points of view and to share his experience of encountering the unknown. Through drawing, the artist investigates thought in variations of movements that disclose his creative processes and build up a delicate mosaic in which distinct artistic possibilities balance each other out. One of his film works alludes to the risk of venturing into the forest – a place where conflict and encounters are possible – and reveals a web of relationships as elaborate as nature itself.
