Based on the exhibition “Verão Eterno” by the artists André Trindade and Filipa Cordeiro, which includes works produced in Brazil in 2012 and 2013, Tobi Maier discusses ideas on migration, cultural policy in Brazil and the modus operandi of the constellation of exhibitions in the city during the 30th São Paulo Biennial (2012).

The current Brazilian population is ten times larger than it was at the turn of the 20th century, but the number of immigrants in Brazil is half of that in 1900. As the anthropologist Darcy Ribeiro mentioned in “O Povo Brasileiro” (1995), on the apparent homogeneity of the Brazilian population, the only exception in a “uni­ethnic sitate are the numerous tribal microethnicities, so imponderable that their existence does not affect the national destiny”. Despite the existence of a Ministry of Culture, the system that supports culture in Brazil is based on an incentive law that favours the visibility of major brands which, in turn, support the most popular projects, a process that is detrimental to work on a smaller scale that elicits debate and critique. However, the 30th São Paulo Biennial collaborated with various venues of different sizes, offering artists the opportunity to work similarly with collections and historical architecture on a smaller scale.

So how can we work on a small scale and receive a vote of confidence from the people who choose to live with us? How can the city and its institutions work in a network, in a constellation, and create a discourse that promotes access and diversity, among other things?

Tobi Maier lives in São Paulo, working as a writer and curator, and was associate curator of the 30th São Paulo Biennial (2011­-2012). Previously, he has curated the MINI / Goethe­Institut Curatorial Residencies Ludlow 38 (2008-­2011) in New York and the Frankfurter Kunstverein (2006-­2008) in Frankfurt.