São Paulo – Brazilian art will be featured again at the Something Else exhibition at the Citadel (pictured above) in Egypt’s capital city Cairo. The next edition of the show, which was created to occupy the halls left by the Cairo Biennale, will take place from November to December this year. Monica Hirano will be one of curators of the Brazilian space and is in talks with artists interested in participating and potential supporters for the show to take place at the the tourist spot that attracts 20,000 people a day.
The overall theme of the 2024 exhibit will be “Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery,” based on song by Jamaican singer-songwriter Bob Marley. Based on this universe, the Brazilian artists will pore over the topic of “Brincadeira” [Play] proposed by curators Monica Hirano and Mariana Sesma, who will work together in this edition. The Lambes Brasil art collective will be a curator as well but for the Brazilian wheatpaste medium.
The idea for “Brincadeira” came from conversations between Hirano and Sesma in the aftermath of Carnaval. “Thinking of play as a factor of liberation, a factor of liberation, in the context of Carnaval, but further expanding the idea to think of play as a way to be present, with no motives, no agenda,” Sesma explained, adding that the liberation is also meant from social roles and chains. The term will be used in Portuguese in order to bring a regard towards Brazil and make a statement for the Brazilian Portuguese language.
Here’s more on the 2023 edition: Brazilian artists participated in exhibition in Cairo
In addition to the artists brought to Something Else by the wheatpaste collective, Sesma and Hirano will invite five to six artists working with various media like video, performance, and installation. Some of these names are already on the radar of the curators, but another part is still open. In fact, they want to take to the show some Arab Brazilian artist. The size of the Brazilian participation is also pending as it depends on the sponsorship possibilities.
The Brazilian participation in the show, which is not the first, started from the connection between Hirano and Darb 1718, an Egyptian contemporary art and culture center that is the brainchild of Moataz Nasr, who holds Something Else together with curator Simon Nijami. The pilot exhibition took place back in 2015 at the Darb 1718’s own space, moving to the Citadel in 2023. The area is undergoing a revitalization, and the presence of the show is part of the move.
The Egyptian exhibition features different curators. Last year, when Hirano was also a curator, she took the works of seven artists, most of them Brazilians. Hirano says that the Brazilians made big, eye-catching works that were the most photographed ones during the exhibit. “After all this time I can see many points of identification between Brazil and Egypt, South America and the Middle East, and I believe this is a very important move to build a direct bridge that doesn’t have necessarily to go through Europe or the United States for us to communicate, says Hirano on the Brazilian presence in Something Else.
The curators
Monica Hirano is an independent curator and artist, with a curatorial practice that is very oriented to social movements and causes. Born in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina, she holds a business degree and a master’s degree in arts management. Hirano has lived in many countries, including two years in Egypt, worked with art institutions, and her work as an artist is mostly autobiographical, with installation being her main medium.
Curator and cultural manager Mariana Sesma is Brazilian but has for five years lived in Germany, where she develops projects and exhibitions and gives workshops to emerging artists. Prior to that in Brazil, she worked for various cultural institutions like Paço das Artes and the São Paulo Art Biennale, which gave her a wealth of experience in international fundraising. Moderation and exhibit production are also on the resumé of Sema, who was born in São Paulo and holds a degree in visual arts and an MBA in cultural management.
The exhibition in Cairo will start on November 6 and will run through December 8. For more information on the Brazilian participation, please contact Hirano at monicahirano@gmail.com or +39 375 556 2750.
Translated by Guilherme Miranda
