Country Focus: Brazil - New Futures Ahead

Date: Tuesday 12 December
Time: 16:00 – 18:00
Location: DutchCulture, Herengracht 474, 1017 CA Amsterdam
Language: English

Current developments in Brazil’s ever-vibrant cultural and creative scenes open up new opportunities for cooperation and exchange with the Netherlands.

In particular Brazilian artists of Indigenous or African descent and their work, are broadening the local and international dialogue of contemporary art and shed light on the most urgent issues of our time. As can be experienced at the 35th edition of the São Paulo Art Biennial, but also in Brazilian museums and other cultural (heritage) institutions.

With the support of Brazil’s re-established Ministry of Culture early this year, there is again a strong focus on innovation and creativity that can contribute to a sustainable future. The many cultural festivals and events like Rio Innovation Week and Festival Path in São Paulo, among others, show that Brazil is reaching out for international cooperation and exchange.

Brazil has been a focal country in Dutch international cultural policy for many years already. The network of Dutch-Brazilian collaboration extends across all artistic disciplines.

Would you like to know more about cultural developments in this country and find out how this might apply to your own work or plans to collaborate with Brazil? Then join us on 12 December!

Programme
15:45 - 16:00 Doors open
16:00 - 16:10 Welcome by DutchCulture
16:10 - 17:00 Martine Gosselink, Priscila Fernandes and Patricia Werneck Ribas share their experiences with Brazil
17:00 – 18:00 Closing and networking moment

Martine Gosselink (Netherlands) is an art historian and currently director of the Mauritshuis in The Hague, a museum with iconic masterpieces from the 17th century, such as the Girl with a Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer. The Mauritshuis was originally built as a residence for Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen, governor of the Dutch colony in Brazil between 1636 and 1644. Among others Martine wrote several books on 17th-century art, colonialism and cartography and participated in advisory committees, for example on the restitution policy of the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science with regard to looted colonial heritage and the steering group for a National Slavery Museum.

Priscila Fernandes (Portugal) is a visual artist and educator living and working in the Netherlands. Together with Edward Clydesdale Thomson, she is the Head of Department of the Bachelor of Fine Arts BEAR (Base for Experiment Art and Research) at ArtEZ, Arnhem. Priscila Fernandes' work – installations, painting, photography, books – is rooted in an ongoing research into education, play, and the dialectics of work and leisure. Recent exhibitions include Live Uncertainty - 32nd São Paulo Biennial with the installation Cuckoo Land and Other Futures.

Patricia Werneck Ribas (Brazil) is an artist based in the Netherlands, working mainly with moving and still images. She investigates how personal narratives connect with wider political and social debates and concerns. Questions regarding identity and power relations in a post-colonial society form the basis of her research. Patricia has an Audio Visual Arts degree from the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and has participated in several group exhibitions and screenings in the Netherlands, Brazil and other countries. For her newest film Para M. (To M.) Patricia traveled to Brazil where M. refers to Johan Maurits of Nassau-Siegen, former governor of Dutch Brazil.