Fundação Bienal de São Paulo named Charles Esche as curator for the 31st Bienal de São Paulo

A curator and writer, Esche should initiate preparations for the exhibition in the month of May, 2013, when he begins assembling his staff which will be defined over the next three months. Esche will also be responsible for the 31st Bienal de São Paulo traveling exhibitions in 2015 as well as maintaining the current partnership between Fundação Bienal and the Ministry of Foreign Relations for Brazil's official participation in the Biennale di Venezia.

Charles Esche is director of the Van Abbemuseum, located in Eindhoven, Holland, and headed the curatorship of such important international exhibitions as the 9th Istanbul Biennial (Turkey, 2005), and the 2nd and 3rd editions of the Riwaq Biennial (Palestine, 2009 and 2007), the 5th Ljubljana Triennial (Slovenia, 2010), the 4th Gwangju Biennial (South Korea, 2002), among others.

“Central to Charles Esche's research is a rethinking of the formats of museums, cultural centers, biennials and the role of art in society today. I believe that the Bienal de São Paulo should be a stage for this discussion, a self-discussion, and should take on this challenge. After all, our vocation is to search for new configurations, reflections and propositions. It's yet another way for the Bienal de São Paulo to advance and, as such, reaffirm itself,” assesses Luis Terepins, president of Fundação Bienal de São Paulo.

For the selection process, the Fundação Bienal established a few principles, such as the curator's familiarity with contemporary artistic creation and its critical discourse, transparency in the project's proposal and procedures and priority given to investment in education and communication. "We also evaluated the projects by the contribution that the biennial can offer to society in the search for real benefits for its public, contributors and supporters – and this is plainly aligned with Charles Esche's ideas," adds Luis Terepins.

The process of choosing the curator for the 31st biennial began in November of 2012 when the directory of the Fundação Bienal entered into a dialogue with directors of institutions, intellectuals and personalities from the arts circuit in Brazil and around the world. From that point on, the decision was made to evaluate the careers of 14 possible professionals. Of them, five received solicitations to send in project proposals. After the proposals were analyzed, two of the authors were invited to participate in meetings at the headquarters of Fundação Bienal de São Paulo.