The Art Newspaper

Uruguay gets its first biennial

New event in Montevideo to take place alongside Sao Paulo’s biennial in Brazil

By Nicolas Smirnoff. Web only
Published online: 06 February 2012

Montevideo's biennial will extend to venues throughout the city, including the Museo Nacional de Artes Visuales

The debut edition of the Biennale de Montevideo—Uruguay’s first such event and titled “Big Sur”—is due to open on 15 October, right in the middle of the São Paulo Biennial, which is set to take place between 8 September and 9 December.

The concept of “the South” and its relationship to the rest of the world is due to be examined in the Biennale de Montevideo by around 50 artists from five continents, although the list has not yet been released. Sponsored by the Laetitia d’Arenberg Foundation, the Uruguay biennale has a budget of around $2m, says its artistic director, Gustavo Tabares.

Tabares, who is also an artist, is the former director of the Marte Upmarket gallery, based in Montevideo. He has exhibited in various biennales including the Mediations Biennale of Poznan, Poland, and his works can be found in the collection of the Museum of Latin American Art in Long Beach, California.

Alfons Hug is due to curate the Biennale de Montevideo in collaboration with two co-curators: the Chilean-born Paz Guevara who lives in Berlin; and the Uruguayan curator and artist Patricia Bentancur, who is also the director of exhibitions and new media at the Spanish Cultural Center of Montevideo. Hug is the director of the Goethe Institute in Rio de Janeiro and has curated numerous biennales including São Paulo and the Instituto Italo-Latino Americano Pavilion at the 54th Venice Biennale.

The Biennale de Montevideo is due to be housed in three pavilions in the Rural del Prado’s exhibition centre, but will also extend to other areas of the city, including the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Figari Museum and the National Museum of Visual Arts.