The celebration of 60 years of the Bienal de São Paulo in 2011 is a milestone in the history of the development of Brazilian art. Its impact, however, deeply transcends the strictly cultural plane. Acting as an instrument of education and social insertion and serving as a lever to stimulate the production and consumption of cultural goods, the Bienal is an important catalyst of the creative economy and symbol of modernity not just of our city, but also of Brazil.

 

Created in 1951, the Bienal de São Paulo, inspired by the Venice Biennale, was the second mega-exhibition of contemporary art in the world and the first in the Southern Hemisphere. Acting as a link between Brazil and the international scene, the Bienal has since then fulfilled its role of promoting cultural exchange, stimulating the local artistic circuit and promoting Brazilian art and Brazil abroad. The result of its 60 years of activity is broadly positive. The principal international post-war artists have passed through here, and they continue to come.

 

The quality and reach of our artistic production have grown enormously, and many of our artists have earned international recognition. Our Bienal has gained prestige beyond national borders and is accompanied by a strong interest from the artistic community around the world. In a country where less than 10% of the population has visited a museum in their lifetimes, the Bienal, with a monumental scale privileged by the pavilion designed by Oscar Niemeyer in the heart of Ibirapuera Park, is an important mechanism of access to art. Every two years, hundreds of thousands of visitors make contact with contemporary artistic production. This encounter, capable of generating disparate feelings that go from absolute pleasure to complete indignation, invariably brings visitors to reflect on art and its role in society, expanding their horizons.

 

Believing in the power of art to educate, the Bienal de São Paulo is a pioneer in the educational field. In partnership with the Secretariats of Education of the State and the City of São Paulo and other neighboring cities, and with countless private educational institutions and NGOs, the Bienal promotes the capacitation of dozens of thousands of educators so that they can work with exhibition subjects in the classroom and later bring their students to the pavilion. The expressive number of guided tours realized during the Bienal makes this effort one of the greatest and most comprehensive educational programs in the field of art.

 

Difficult to measure, the economic impact of the Bienal is not widely discussed, but it certainly should not be underestimated. Artistic production is one of the activities of greatest aggregated value in the economy. Artworks materialize intellectual capital. The higher the value our artists’ works of art acquire, the greater the wealth generated in our country. And such wealth ends up being distributed among everyone in the world of art - artists, galleries, auction houses, cultural institutions, schools, etc. In addition, the art circuit is a large incentive for tourism.

 

Though the axis of the Bienal is art, it cannot, however, stop considering its impact on the field of education, citizenship and economy. The incisive support the Bienal receives from the Ministry of Culture, as well as the City of São Paulo, sponsors and civil society results exactly in the understanding of this broadened impact. A strong and representative Bienal interests all of society, in the measure that allows our city to position itself as one of the great world centers of contemporary art, generating wealth, progress and material and symbolic benefits for everyone.

 

President of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo