examples to follow! expeditions in aesthetics and sustainability
Galleria Marta Traba, São Paulo, February 22 — April 7, 2013



Ravi Agarwal (IND), Jennifer Allora & Guillermo Calzadilla (US | CU), Néle Azevedo (BR), Joseph Beuys (GER), Richard Box (GB), Gerhard Bär (GER), Ines Doujak (A), Olafur Eliasson (DK), Galerie für Landschaftskunst (GER), Dionisio González (E), Hermann Josef Hack (GER), Henrik Håkansson (S), Folke Köbberling & Martin Kaltwasser (GER), Christian Kuhtz (GER), Jae Rhim Lee (KR | US), Till Leeser (GER), Sarah Lewison (US), Marlen Liebau | Marc Lingk (GER), Rudolf de Lippe (GER), Ma Yongfeng (CHN), Petra Maitz (A), Renzo Martens (NL), Ayumi Matsuzaka (JP), Gerd Niemöller (GER), Dan Peterman (US), Clement Price-Thomas (US), Dodi Reifenberg (IL | GER), Gustavo Romano (AR), Michael Saup (GER), Ursula Schulz-Dornburg (GER), Dina Shenhav (IL), David Smithson (US), Robert Smithson (US), Superflex (DK), The Yes Men (US), Wang Jiuliang (CHN), Xing Danwen (CHN), Yang Shaobin (CHN), Zwischenbericht (GER).

For the São Paulo were included five Brazilian artists (in alphabetical order):
Marlene Almeida (BR), Sonia Guggisberg (BR), James Kudo (BR), Shirley Paes-Leme (BR), José De Quadros (BR)


The finiteness of our energy reserves, the impending climate change, and the shrinking of biodiversity have deeply penetrated and alarmed public consciousness even before the world climate summits in Copenhagen (2009), Cancun (2010), Durban (2011), and Doha (2012) during which "nothing but compromises" Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2012) were reached.Also very recently was the Rio +20 conference, which "produced the weakest imaginable commitment to greening the global economy "(The Economist, 2012). After these summits, the question of the possibility for individual action is even more urgent. We need visions of sustainable living that interconnect with the sensuality, lust and passion of acting on our own.

"examples to follow! expeditions in aesthetics and sustainability" intends to encourage individual actions and to move the cultural and aesthetic dimension of sustainability into the focus of our senses, thus counteracting the visible erosion of the term. The exhibition aims at raising awareness for the fact that sustainability in a comprehensive sense must include the arts and sciences. Forging sustainability needs to learn from art how to think in transitions, find interim solutions, construct models, and implement projects.

Brazil is experiencing a unique moment of economic boom and gaining respect in the international arena. Internally there are still steps to be taken to generally raise the awareness of the population in order to face the scarcity of natural resources and climate disasters. These are issues which are being addressed to the population on a daily basis. examples to follow! expeditions in aesthetics and sustainability brings to the Brazilian public some alternatives and attempts to hold this predative development. The presentation of this exhibition at the Foundation of Latin America Memorial (partner of this exhibition) represents the most visible platform to make aware of this context, not only the local population, but also to the whole country and Latin America - accomplices and protagonists involved in a global catastrophe to be controlled and administrated with rigor, creativity and commitment!

The curator, Adrienne Goehler, has selected artists who dissolve the boundaries between art, activism and invention as well as connect the experiences of environmental initiatives with their own artistic approach. A range of video works, photographs, performances and installations dealing with the cultural dimension of sustainability are presented.

The exhibition first opened in Berlin (Germany) in 2010, and has since been shown in several more cities , e.g. the German cities Bremen and Hamburg, then in Mumbai (India) followed by Addis Ababa (Ethiopia). It was awarded the 2010 special media prize of Deutsche Umwelthilfe, and received a prize as a project of Werkstatt N of the Rat für nachhaltige Entwicklung (Council for Sustainable Development).

The exhibition in São Paulo will be accompanied by an extensive program of films, artist talks and discussions.

Adrienne Goehler, initiator, curator of the exhibition and editor of the publication "examples to follow! expeditions in aesthetics and sustainability" lives and works as a publicist and curator in Berlin. From 1989 to 2001, she was President of the Hochschule für bildende Künste in Hamburg, from 2001 to 2002 Senator for Science, Research and Culture of the State of Berlin, and between 2002 and 2006 Curator of the Capital Cultural Fund, Berlin.

Tereza de Arruda, co-curator of this exhibition for Brazil, lives and works in Berlin as an art historian and independent curator. She curated the exhibititons India Side by Side, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil and SESC São Paulo, Sigmar Polke: Capitalist Realism and other illustrated Histories Museu de Arte de São Paulo and The Big World: Recent Art from China at the Chicago Cultural Center, co-curator of the Havanna Biennial and Vento Sul Biennial / Curitiba.

A project by Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation), supported by Heinrich-Boell-Foundation Brasil, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH (German International Cooperation), KfW Bank Group and the Memorial da América Latina, Agility, Lux Impuls, Dr. Schär AG, Eckhard Kupfer (Instituto Martius-Staden, São Paulo) and German Consulate General, São Paulo.

Download the press release or watch this interview for more information.


Memorial da América Latina, Galeria Marta Traba [visit website]
Av. Auro Soares de Moura Andrade, 664 - Barra Funda, Sao Paulo 01156-001, Brazil
Exhibition Period: February 22 — April 7, 2013