Adriano Pedrosa, curator of the segment “Arte Contemporânea Brasileira” in the 24th International Biennial of São Paulo (1998), states that the name of the exhibition he is curating raises the following question: “What art is (not) contemporary Brazilian art?” As a matter of fact, that would be “other art” produced outside of Europe, Canada and the United States, with greater representation on the international art circuit. The increasing interest in specialized criticism on the part of institutions and collectors with respect to Latin American art was recent. It had arisen along with the “appearance of certain Post-Modern, multicultural trends and the globalization of the art world.” On the other hand, there were interested parties (curators, critics and foreign collectors) who considered it urgent to characterize this art immediately. Since it was important for them to establish the distinction between what belonged to Brazil and what did not, they ultimately had to ask themselves: “What is (specifically) Brazilian about it?”

Curated by the Brazilian intellectual Paulo Herkenhoff (b. 1949), the 24th International Biennial of São Paulo (1998), with Adriano Pedrosa as assistant curator, was divided into three segments. Each of them occupied one floor of the enormous “Ciccillo Matarazzo” pavilion in the Parque de Ibirapuera in São Paulo. The first segment was called “Núcleo Histórico”, which included work by the distinguished artists Vincent Van Gogh (1853–90), Hélio Oiticica (1937–80), Francis Bacon (1909–92) and René Magritte (1898–1967). Repeating what was done in the prior round of the event, the second segment featured “Representações Nacionales”, in which each country honored a chosen artist. The third segment was called “Roteiros” [Logs or Plans], through which the international curators selected artists from seven regions of the world. Moreover, the national section divided the Brazilian participants into two categories: “Um e Outro” [One and Another] and “Um Entre Outros” [One among the Rest].

A native of Rio de Janeiro, the curator Adriano Pedrosa (b. 1965) is now the art director at the  Museu de Arte Moderna de São Paulo (MAM-SP), after developing curatorial practices at the Museu da Pampulha (Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais) between 2001 and 2003.