Open Plan curator, Jacopo Crivelli Visconti talks about this year’s new features for SP-Arte

30 Mar 2016, 11:07 am

In its second year, Open Plan kicks off SP-Arte/2016 boasting new features. The sector, which caters to big sculptures, installations and site-specific works, will occupy the second floor of the Bienal Pavilion – differently from 2015, when it was located on the third floor. Additionally, the new edition will present new pieces commissioned especially for SP-Arte.

The exhibit is part of the Fair’s program of curated events and, like last year, is being spearheaded by Jacopo Crivelli Visconti. In the following interview, the curator talks about his second year heading the project and shares his expectations for the event. See below!

For the first time, works for the Open Plan will be specially commissioned for SP-Arte. What’s your opinion about the Fair’s new initiative?

At a very complex moment as the one we are currently experiencing, the role of SP-Arte must go well beyond commercial aspects. And this is why it was decided, together with director Fernanda Feitosa, to change the Open Plan format and begin offering participating artists/galleries funds for production. It’s a way of saying that creation cannot stop, and that the Fair aims to contribute in several ways to the current scenario.

How did you curate the sector? Did the selection center on specific artists or projects?

Adding to what I said before about the Fair’s role in the current moment, from the perspective of international participations, my main objective was to bring to the Open Plan artists who I have been following and that already have a well consolidated international career, but for some reason are barely known or totally unknown in Brazil. Additionally, I also wanted to invite galleries that seem to have a more consistent program, but had never been invited to participate in SP-Arte.

How do you maintain alive the dialogue between the works and the Bienal Pavilion space, considering the sector’s new area?

Last year, the space was bigger because the objective was to bring a series of large size installations. This year we opted to work closer with artists, through the production of new works, and there was no longer the need for such a large space. Nonetheless, the total area earmarked for the Open Plan continues quite significant, almost 2,000 m². From the architectural relationship perspective, the new location is, for me, even more interesting, because “open plan” is an appropriate expression of modernist vocabulary and defines space as neutral, open and in a state of power. In this sense, it seems that the second floor, where the sector is located this year, is even more appropriate than last year’s area.

What are your expectations for SP-Arte/2016?

It’s very hard to make predictions. I believe that crises can be a fundamental moment in the sense that fewer funds make things slow down and creates more time to reflect and build thoughts – something that’s naturally fundamental in an activity that’s essentially intellectual like ours, and that, in the last decade, when the market was extremely dynamic and even voracious, lacked in some cases.