The board of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo met on December 9 to reelect its president, Luis Terepins, and to announce the appointment of Jochen Volz as the curator of the 32nd edition of the fair scheduled for 2016. Born in 1971 in the city of Braunschweig, German art historian Jochen Volz has served as chief curator of the program of the Serpentine Gallery in London, as curator of Inhotim, Minas Gerais, and as artistic director of that same institution from 2005 to 2012. Deeply knowledgeable of the national and international art scenes, he was co-curator—along with artistic director Daniel Birnbaum—of the 53rd Venice Biennale (2009) and, in 2006, at the invitation of Lisette Lagnado, they participated in the curatorship of the 27th São Paulo Biennial, in which Volz made a special design in honor of Marcel Broodthaers. At Inhotim, he worked in the artistic design and production of new pavilions and installations for artists like Adriana Varejao, Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster, Doris Salcedo, Doug Aitken, Helio Oiticica, Lygia Pape, Matthew Barney, Rirkrit Tiravanija and Tunga, among others. Volz also collaborated in numerous exhibitions worldwide, including an exhibition in São Paulo by Danish-Icelandic artist Olafur Eliasson—in the context of the 17th International Contemporary Art Festival SESC Videobrasil (2011)—the exhibition The Spiral and the Square at Bonniers Konsthall, in Stockholm (2011), the Aichi Triennial, in Nagoya, Japan (2010), and curated the work of Cinthia Marcelle at the Lyon Biennale, in France (2007). From 2001 to 2004, Volz was curator at the Portikus exhibition hall, in Frankfurt, Germany. Since 2012, at the invitation of director Julia Peyton-Jones and co-director Hans Ulrich Obrist, Volz heads the curatorship of the programs by the prestigious Serpentine Gallery, in London, conceived for the development of public activities in the fields of art, architecture, design and education; and of cultural programs that include dance, film, literature, music, performance, science and technology. According to Luis Terepins, the process of selecting a curator is a constant concern of the institution. The selection process began in the second half of 2014, following a series of meetings of the Biennial Foundation's board with other institutions, intellectuals and personalities of national and international art scene: "His vast experience in art biennials and several contemporary art platforms, added to his renowned ethical and professional standings, made Volz the ideal choice to fulfill to fulfill the foundation's current goals and to meet the challenges involved in producing its grand event." The first press conference of the 32nd Biennale will take place in February of 2015, when Volz will present the general concept for the exhibition along with his work plan for the following months. For more information visit:
http://www.bienal.org.br/post.php?i=1989