Inside the 31st annual São Paulo Biennial.© Leo Eloy / Fundação Bienal de São Paulo

The Sao Paulo Biennial, which opened on September 6, is traditionally a contemporary art festival, but this year’s event puts new emphasis on architecture. Chief curator Charles Esche commissioned nearly 70 percent of the exhibition’s artworks, collaborating with a five-person curatorial team that included an architect for the first time in the biennial’s 63-year history (fun fact: it’s the world’s second-oldest contemporary art biennial). That designer, Tel Aviv-based architect Oren Sagiv, who specializes in exhibition design, worked with exhibiting artists to develop and build an immersive, three-part exhibition space inside the Pavilion Ceccillio Matarazzo, which was designed by Oscar Niemeyer in 1957. ARTINFO spoke with Sagiv about fitting his vision into Niemeyer’s building, designing an exhibition space without exact artworks in mind, and the optimal relationship between art and the architectural space it occupies....Continue Reading

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