Associação Cultural Videobrasil

The video programs of the 18^th edition of the Contemporary Art Festival Sesc_Videobrasil are available to the public at the Videobrasil Video Library, which has been set up at the Sesc Pompeia Warehouse where the show 30 Years is taking place. The works include some of the current edition winners, like Domésticas, by Gabriel Mascaro, winner of the residency prize at the Wexner Center for the Arts, in the USA; The Sun Glows Over the Mountains, by Israel’s Nurit Sharett, winner of the China Art Foundation residency prize at the Red Gate Gallery; and Journey to a Land Otherwise Known, by Laura Huertas Millán, winner of the Res Artis residency prize at Arquetopia, in Mexico. Brisas, by Enríque Ramirez, and Rabeca, by Caetano Dias, both of which have been awarded honorable mentions from the Festival jury, are also available.

Aside from the 18^th Festival winning videos, in this 30^th anniversary edition, the Videobrasil Video Library offers audiences a total of approximately 1,300 works. After one-and-a-half year of research and retrieval efforts during which videos were surveyed, catalogued, and in some cases restored and digitalized (many were in their original VHS, Beta, and U-Matic versions), the Video Library has been rearranged and improved, incorporating roughly 280 new videos from the Videobrasil Collection (including rare works by Nam June Paik, Bill Viola and Gary Hill), and offering nearly 120 works exclusively during the Festival.

Organized into three sections – Performance Recordings, Southern Panoramas, and Parallel Shows –, the Videobrasil Video Library features hard-to-find works by artists like Lebanon’s Akram Zaatari and Morocco’s Bouchra Kalili, as well as Aysha Quinn, Moysés Baumstein, Peter Callas, Breda Beban & Hrvoje Horvatic, Jérôme Lefdup, Ximena Cuevas, and Edgard Navarro, among others. There are also shows featuring overviews of production in the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, the United States, England, and Latin America, as well as themed shows covering issues such as narratives, poetry, architecture, and a program curated by Kate Horsfield and featuring leading video artists worldwide, Historic Video.

Two other historical video collections are offered exclusively by the Video Library. Olhar Eletrônico, created for the 3^rd Videobrasil, features works by Fernando Meirelles and Paulo Morelli, and O Olho do Diabo, displays productions by the Brazilian video art pioneer José Roberto Aguilar.

Performances such as O Samba do Crioulo Doido, by Luiz de Abreu, winner of the 18^th edition Grand Prize, should be available soon.

The videos can be viewed by Festival edition (from 1^st to 18^th), artist name, title, place of origin, or the Videobrasil show they were featured in. A team of mediators is available to make the viewing of Video Library works easier, as well as the viewing of the video installation that constitutes the 30 Years show, recounting some of the history of the Festival and of video itself over the past three decades.

Service:

Videobrasil Video Library

Where: Sesc Pompeia Warehouse. Clélia St., 93, Pompeia.
Date and time: Tuesdays to Fridays from 10:00 am to 9:00 pm; Saturdays, Sundays and holidays from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm.
Until: February 2 2014.
Admittance is free.