PORTO ALEGRE, BRAZIL.- The 6th Mercosul Biennial presents over 200 works of 67 artists from 23 countries. These works will be shown in six exhibitions – three solo exhibitions and group shows entitled Free Zone, Three Frontiers and Conversations.

This year’s event will take place in three distinct spaces in Porto Alegre. The Free Zone, Conversations and Three Frontiers exhibitions will be shown in the Quayside warehouses. MARGS – the Rio Grande do Sul Museum of Art will show the solo shows by Francisco Matto and Öyvind Fahlström. While Santander Cultural has been chosen for the solo show by Jorge Macchi.

In 79 days, the 6th edition expects its number of visitations to increase by 48% over the previous one, which counted for over 850.000. The 6th Mercosul Biennial will open 7 days a week and the event is free of charge.

The Curatorial Project: The chief curator intends to renew the event and consolidate the success of the five previous editions by not only changing the curatorship model but also by intensifying the process of internationalizing the show and activating an education programme throughout its entire development. The 5 previous editions have been based on the idea of national representations, and curatorship is now being carried out by a group of curators responsible for specific projects, coordinated by the chief curator.

A necessary step on the way to valuing a cultural geography created from the voice of the artist is seen to be the breaking of geopolitical boundaries. The curatorial project for the 6th Mercosul Biennial is therefore inspired by the metaphor of the Third Shore of the River, an image taken from the famous story by Guimarães Rosa, which has been adopted for the 6th Mercosul Biennial. The chief curator, Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro, says that the third shore symbolizes a change in perspectives. It emphasizes the possibility of creating a third way of perceiving reality, breaking with the dualities that define it and restrict it – nationalism and globalisation, right and left, good and bad, figuration and abstraction, for example. The third shore is also a metaphor for the regional geography, defined by river borders, and alludes to the antagonism between closed regionalism and unbounded globalisation. “In political terms, almost all the countries in Mercosul are involved in some kind of ‘third way’ experiment between socialism and market economics. In the 6th Mercosul Biennial the emphasis will be on artists who have created their own spaces within the established system,” explains Pérez-Barreiro. The image of the third shore also indicates one of the methodological principals for curating the exhibition: a dialogue between two subjects with different experiences, which creates a third reality.

The chief curator also stresses that, as it has a metaphor instead of a defined theme, this edition of the Biennial is a Mercosul look onto the world, from the regional to the global. “It’s a Biennial made from here, in Mercosul, but not closed in upon itself,” he says. Pérez-Barreiro says that the third shore is also a position to be adopted when dealing with the relationship between art and the public: “dialogue should be a great generator of alternatives, the fruit of constant negotiation between artist and art, object and spectator, and spectator with the surroundings.” An integrated team of curators – no longer curators of national representations – therefore articulates the view of Mercosul upon the world and the world on Mercosul. “All the curators have a direct relationship with Mercosul countries, and at the same time some form of international experience or activity. They all represent different voices, and this Biennial accepts and promotes diversity and freedom of expression,” he argues.

In addition to the exhibitions, the 6th edition of the Mercosul Biennial lays emphasis on the actions of the education programme, a cornerstone of this edition. The curatorial project, for example, has been fully thought out based on the education proposals for this edition. Gabriel Pérez-Barreiro says that one of the distinctive features of this edition is the work being proposed by the 6th Mercosul Biennial’s education curator, Luis Camnitzer. Camnitzer has proposed an innovative reconfiguration of the education programme for the 6th Mercosul Biennial, from its targets to its implementation. He believes the spectator should be seen as a creative person and not as a mere passive receptor of information. The education process began in 2006 and envisages a series of actions throughout 2007. These actions encompass the involvement of teachers from the private and public teaching networks, continuing into students’ visits to the exhibition; organizing a cycle of conferences and round-tables; inserting the 6th Mercosul Biennial into the Rio Grande do Sul Public Teaching Calendar; organizing art-education symposiums – as happened in April with more than 1400 participants – and workshops and courses with teachers from the interior of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa Catarina; organizing the Mediator-training course; producing and distributing Educational Material to public and private teaching institutions; free transport for up to 240,000 pupils from state schools and care institutions; and the Dialogues project – which involves the local arts community. During the exhibition visitors will have access to an education space on the Quayside, with a teachers’ room, library and internet access, workshop rooms and rooms for displaying the work produced during the education project. 20 education stations will also be created to promote interaction between visitors and the artists.