Laura Finocchiaro – The underground faithful

On display at Sesc Ribeirão Preto, 31st Youth Arts Exhibition – MAJ presents works by 46 new talents in the visual arts of Brazil, selected from more than 700 entries by curators Camila Fontenele and Tiago Gualberto, on the occasion of the celebration of the 35th anniversary of the exhibition conceived by Janete Polo Melo, former sociocultural technician at the Unit who, in 1989, launched the first edition of MAJ in partnership with the Center for Communication and Arts at the University of Ribeirão Preto (UNAERP).

Showcase and agent of visibility and incentive for the production of artists aged between 15 and 30, over more than three decades, BIGGER has allowed young talents from all regions of the country to express their creativity through diverse artistic expressions, such as paintings, engravings, sculptures, interventions and performances, stirring up the artistic scene in the interior of São Paulo and broadening the discussion of socioeconomic and cultural diversity. As in previous editions, at the opening of the 31st edition, the curators will also announce the three artists who have been awarded the Incentive Prize.

Driven by the purpose of facilitating access to the world of arts and disseminating and projecting new artists to Brazil and the international scene, the collective exhibition at Sesc Ribeirão Preto contributed to the revelation of important names in the visual arts, such as Jaime Lauriano, Marcelo Moschetta, Cordeiro de Sá, Beta Ricci, Felipe Góes, Fabricio Sicardi, Renata Lucas, Nilton Campos, Sofia Borges and Renato Rebouças, as well as artists nominated for the PIPA Prize, such as Carla Chaim (2016), Talles Lopes (2022 and 2024) and Vulcanica Pokaropa (2024), among others.

With over 600 talents presented to the public over the course of 35 years, the 31st edition of MAJ features a panel of ethnic diversity that includes white, mixed-race, black, Asian and indigenous people. In this edition, the artists selected by the curators come from nine states in Brazil – São Paulo, Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, Paraná, Pernambuco, Pará, Minas Gerais and Amazonas – and the Federal District.

Check out the complete list of artists present at the 31st MAJ below:

Abner Sigemi – Amauri – Anna Livia Taborda – Barbara Savannah – Bruno Benedicto – Cho – Cicero Costa – Diego Rocha – Diez – Donatinnho – Estela Camillo – Felipe Rezende – Giovanna Camargo – Gu da Cei – Gustavo Ferreira – Hanatsuki – Isabela Picheth – Isabella Motta – Isabelle Baiocco – Italo Carajás – Janaina Vieira – Juniara Albuquerque – Kaori – Kelly Pires – Kuenan Tikuna – Leid Ane – Lorre Motta – Lucas BRACO – Lucas Gusmão – Lucas Soares – Luiza Poeiras – Mar Yamanoi – Mariana Simões – MAVINUS – Murillo Marques – Nat Rocha – Nike Krepischi – O Tal do Ale – Okarib – Pedro Mishima – Rayane Gomes – Samuel Cunha – Sophia Zorzi – Vitor Alves – Yan Nicholas – Yanaki Herrera

Curatorial process

In the exhibition's curatorial text, prepared based on reflections recorded in a long dialogue between Camila Fontenele and Tiago Gualberto, one concern guided the process developed by them from September 2023 onwards: the complexity of selecting a selection from a significant number of artists aspiring to exhibit their work at the 31st MAJ.

“When observing the 722 entries – which went through three selection phases, initially 114, then 72, until we reached the 46 selected people – I notice the fluid and coherent way in which these works mutually strengthen each other, while also generating tensions and contrasts”, says Camila.

“As important as recognizing the merit of the outstanding research by this group of 722 artists to whom we dedicate ourselves is understanding the formative and educational role built over the dozens of editions of the MAJ. In other words, the gesture of awarding a representative group of this young art should not be separated from the gesture of listening and offering conditions for improvement to the other artists not selected. In curatorial terms, the hundreds of non-selected research projects served as a great chorus of voices to guide us in identifying topics, agendas, social, political and aesthetic demands,” concludes Gualberto.

Opening to the public at 19:30 p.m. on December 5th, at Sesc Ribeirão Preto, the 31st Youth Arts Exhibition – MAJ can then be visited during the unit's normal opening hours: Tuesday to Friday, from 13:30 p.m. to 21:31 p.m.; Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, from 9:30 a.m. to 18 p.m. With free admission, the exhibition will be on display until June 8th, 2025.

Service

O Sesc Vila Mariana receives the unprecedented exhibition MAM Garden at Sesc, a co-production of the Museum of Modern Art of São Paulo and Sesc São Paulo. The exhibition is curated by Cauê Alves and Gabriela Gotoda and re-enacts elements of the MAM Sculpture Garden at the entrance to Sesc Vila Mariana. In it, the public will be able to appreciate works from the MAM collection, including iconic sculptures by Alfredo Ceschiatti, Amilcar de Castro and Emanoel Araújo, and works that explore social criticism, such as works by Regina Silveira, Luiz 83 and Marepe.

For MAM president Elizabeth Machado, the partnership with Sesc reinforces the museum’s commitment to expanding access to art: “The MAM collection is a living heritage, and this exhibition at Sesc Vila Mariana allows an even wider audience to come into contact with fundamental works of our history, promoting encounter and reflection on Brazilian art. Sesc is a long-standing partner of MAM, and this collaboration reaffirms our joint mission to expand access to culture.”

The artists participating in the exhibition are Alfredo Ceschiatti, Amílcar de Castro, Bruno Giorgi, Eliane Prolik, Emanoel Araujo, Felicia Leirner, Haroldo Barroso, Hisao Ohara, Ivens Machado, Luiz83, Marepe, Mari Yoshimoto, Márcia Pastore, Mario Agostinelli, Nicolas Vlavianos, Regina Silveira, Roberto Moriconi, Rubens Mano and Ottone Zorlino.

The selection of works includes pieces that have already been part of the MAM Garden, as well as works from the museum's collection that discuss themes such as nature, the city and materiality. The installation at Sesc Vila Mariana recreates the dynamics of the Sculpture Garden, using scenographic elements that evoke the winding topography of Ibirapuera Park designed by the office of the iconic landscape architect Burle Marx, stimulating new interactions between body, space and art.

Opened in 1993, the MAM Sculpture Garden is an initiative that revived the museum’s collection in its own free space with a large circulation of people. “By proposing a kind of reenactment of the MAM Garden in the External Square of Sesc Vila Mariana, we sought to develop the idea that, just like the garden space in Ibirapuera Park, the Sesc space functions as a center for urban encounters,” says Cauê Alves. “The exhibition includes works from the MAM collection that relate, in different ways, to nature, the body, the city, materiality, and to languages ​​that express some of the inescapable tensions in society,” adds the curator.

The proposal for the MAM Garden exhibition at Sesc Vila Mariana is to stimulate this relationship between bodies, works and space, transforming the unit's External Square into a territory for circulation, experimentation and discovery. Without intending to emulate the park's landscaping, the project's scenography recreates the curves and volumes that mark the original garden, proposing a spatial rhythm between the sculptures. For Gabriela Gotoda, curator of the exhibition alongside Cauê Alves: “If the most original and authentic principle of modern art is that it is close to life, a museum that is dedicated to collecting it and updating it in its present time must continually strive to offer its audiences possibilities of enjoyment that do not distance them from their realities, but rather meet them.”

Educational MAM

During the exhibition period, the public will be able to participate free of charge in educational activities promoted by MAM Educativo, which develops programs and projects in dialogue with its audiences, through accessible and free programming that seeks to equalize opportunities and reduce physical, sensory, intellectual, social or mental health barriers.

Inspired by the experiments carried out in the museum's Sculpture Garden in Ibirapuera Park, part of MAM Educativo's May activities will be adapted to the Sesc Vila Mariana space, proposing different forms of interaction between bodies, works and the exhibition environment. Aimed at audiences of all ages and profiles, the activities will seek to stimulate new ways of looking at, inhabiting and reflecting on urban space through art.

The activities will be divided into programs. “Contacts with art” promotes the cultural education of teachers, educators, researchers and university students, encouraging their role as multipliers of different artistic expressions and pedagogical approaches based on diverse creative processes. “MAM Family” promotes the encounter of the museum’s artistic universe with childhood cultures, through storytelling, games, artistic workshops, guided tours followed by poetry experiences, among other activities. “MAM Sunday” includes activities that invite the public to experience different artistic languages ​​based on thematic axes that encompass dance, music, popular culture, street culture, debates and plastic arts workshops.

There is also the “Visiting Program”, which caters to all types of audiences and encourages access to art and culture through the exercise of critical thinking. The program includes guided tours, poetic experiences and a relationship program with partner schools. Guided tours with MAM Educativo are conversations in which critical reflection is encouraged through art and poetic experiences, which bring the museum’s public closer to artistic experiences and processes. Groups can schedule visits to the MAM Garden exhibition at Sesc by email at educativo@mam.org.br.

The program also includes activities that are part of the National Museum Week – an initiative of the Brazilian Institute of Museums (Ibram) in celebration of International Museum Day (May 18) and which, in 2025, will take place from May 12 to 18 under the theme “The Future of Museums in Rapidly Transforming Communities” – and the World Play Week – an action promoted by the Alliance for Childhood that invites society to value play and the importance of childhood and which, in 2025, will have the theme “Protecting the Enchantment of Childhood” and will take place from May 24 to June 1.

Service
Exhibition | MAM Garden at Sesc
From the 14th of May to the 31rd of August
Tuesday to Friday, from 7am to 21:30pm, Saturdays, from 10am to 20:30pm, and Sundays and holidays, from 10am to 18pm