Ayrson Heráclito
Artist, curator and professor. Master in Visual Arts from the Federal University of Bahia, he holds a PhD in Communication and Semiotics from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo. His work derives from the idea of the sacred expressed in the rituals and symbolism of Candomblé, a religion he has practiced for almost thirty years. The organic matter mobilized by African-based rites in Bahia nurtures his work, explored to the limits of plasticity and meaning; but also his sense of performance, of trance, of the magical act in which energies, stories and memories are conjured, purified and reorganized. He has participated in such group shows as the 57th Venice Biennale (2017); Afro-Brazilian Contemporary Art, Europalia.Brasil, Brussels (2012); Luanda Triennial (2010); and MIP 2, International Performance Manifestation, Belo Horizonte (2009). He was born and lives in Salvador.
Cecília Ribeiro
Researcher, cataloger and curator, graduated in Social Communications from the Fundação Armando Álvares Penteado (São Paulo), and specialized in History of Art and Aesthetics from the University of São Paulo. In the 1980s, she was coordinator of Galeria São Paulo, Galeria Millán and of the parallel event to the 16th São Paulo Biennial “Mitos Vadios.” In the 1990s, she was a correspondent for the State of São Paulo and ELLE Magazine in the field of visual arts. She conducted research, consultancy and cataloging for private and corporate collections. She coordinated projects such as “Hélio Oiticica - Museu é o Mundo,” Itaú Cultural (São Paulo), Imperial Palace (Rio de Janeiro), National Museum (Brasília), National Museum (Belém) and Berardo Museum (Lisbon); Pipilotti Rist - MIS/Paço das Artes (São Paulo); and “Fragments, Modernism in Brazilian photography,” Bergamin Gallery. She currently founded and works at the art office Cecília Ribeiro Art Consulting. She was born and lives in São Paulo.
Eneida Sanches
Visual artist. She graduated in Architecture and Urbanism from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Since 1990, she has researched and produced tools for liturgical use in Yoruba Candomblé. She studied metal engraving at the Workshops of the Museu de Arte Moderna in Bahia (2000), and since then has used engraving in the form of objects and installations, and has researched trance, an altered state of consciousness that is at the basis of Afro-Brazilian religions. She was one of the creators of the Circuito das Artes e Triangulações. Her works have been shown in such exhibitions as Bloco do Prazer, Museu de Arte do Rio (2024); at the Contemporary Center for Arts, Rockland, Maine, USA (2023); Dos Brasis, Sesc Belenzinho (2023); 37th Panorama das Artes Visuais, MAM (2022); 18th Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil (2018); PretAtitudes, Sesc Vila Mariana (2018); Diálogos Ausentes, Itaú Cultural (2016); among others. She received the award from the 24th Salão de Artes MAM Bahia and participated in residencies in the Netherlands (2008), Tanzania (2014), Portland, USA (2019) and Milwaukee, USA (2023). She was born in Bahia, and lives and works in São Paulo.
Fabio Cypriano
Art critic and journalist. Graduated in social communication (journalism), with a master's and doctorate in communication and semiotics from the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP). He obtained his post-doctorate at the University of São Paulo (USP). He is the director of the Faculty of Philosophy, Communication, Letters and Arts at PUC-SP, where he teaches undergraduate and postgraduate classes. He is an art critic, having written for the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo between 2000 and 2019, as well as for the magazines Frieze (England), Flash Art (Italy) and Atlántica (Spain). He is a member of the Editorial Board of ARTE!Brasileiros magazine and of South as a State of Mind (Greece). He is the author of Pina Bausch (Sesc, 2018), and editor of Histórias das Exposições - Debates urgentes (Exhibition Histories - Urgent Debates, Estação, 2018) and co-editor of Histórias das Exposições - Casos Exemplares (Exhibition Histories - Exemplary Cases, Educ, 2016), among others. He was born and lives in São Paulo.
Rosângela Rennó
Visual artist. She holds a degree in architecture from the School of Architecture of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (1986), in fine arts from the Guignard School (1987), and a doctorate degree in arts from the School of Communications and Arts of the University of São Paulo (1997). One of the first Brazilian artists to move photography from the two-dimensional field to the territory of artistic installation, Rennó addresses questions about the nature of image, its symbolic value and its depersonalization process. In her photographs, objects, videos and installations, she appropriates and gives visibility to an anonymous assemblage of photographs and negatives found in antique fairs, family albums, newspapers and archives. She has participated in the Biennials of Johannesburg (1997), São Paulo (1994, 1998 and 2010), Istanbul (2003) and Venice (1993 and 2003); in addition to such exhibitions as América Latina 1960–2013, Fondation Cartier, Paris (2014), and Cruzamentos: Contemporary Art in Brazil, Wexner Center for the Arts, Ohio (2014), Chosen Memories, Contemporary Latin American Art, Museum of Modern Art MoMA New York (2023). Her latest solo exhibitions include Sur les ruines de la Photographie (Les Recontres de la Photographie, Arles, 2023), Pequena Ecologia da Imagem, Estação Pinacoteca (São Paulo, 2021). She was born in Minas Gerais and lives in Rio de Janeiro.
Thereza Farkas
Manager and curator. She graduated in cinema from FAAP (2008) and in performing arts from Teatro Escola Célia-Helena (2003). Since then, she has conducted curatorial projects such as the exhibitions Wabi-Sabi (2011) and Futuro do Pretérito (2012) at the Mendes Wood DM gallery, in São Paulo, and today she dedicates herself to managing artistic projects. In 2009 she co-founded Casa Tomada, an artistic research space dedicated to encouraging and discussing young Brazilian contemporary art, where she worked until the end of 2012. In 2013, she began working as institutional and programming director at Associação Cultural Videobrasil, focusing on the promotion, dissemination and mapping of contemporary art, with special attention to the production of the Southern geopolitical circuit and video as an artistic language. She currently runs Estúdio Baile, a production company aimed at projects that connect the arts with children and youth culture. She was born and lives in São Paulo.
Vivian Ostrovsky
Avant-garde filmmaker and curator whose work often takes the form of meditative documentaries and personal essays. Raised in Rio de Janeiro, she graduated in psychology at the Institut de Psychologie de Paris and in cinematographic studies at the Sorbonne. Vivian is the founder of Cine-Femmes International, a company focused on the distribution and promotion of films made by women. She has curated programs for the École des Beaux-Arts and Light Cone in Paris, the Parque Lage School of Visual Arts in Rio de Janeiro, and the Jerusalem Film Festival. Ostrovsky is a board member of the Film Forum, member of the advisory committee of the Anthology Film Archives, and an initiator of the Brazilian Film and Video Preservation Project. She was born and lives in New York City.