Partnership with Fundação Bienal de São Paulo

A multi-year strategic collaboration
On May 7, 2025

São Paulo, Brazil

This multi-year initiative between ICI and Fundação Bienal de São Paulo (FBSP), made possible by a leadership gift from ICI Trustee Sarina Tang, aims to promote international curatorial research and artistic exchange, with an initial focus on establishing opportunities for collaboration between China and Brazil over the next six years.

In its initial form, the partnership will facilitate curatorial research in Asia, and particularly China, in consultation with the curatorial teams of the three upcoming editions of the Bienal de São Paulo. ICI will leverage our expansive network of curators and collaborators in both regions to develop new curatorial knowledge, and the initiative will also support the participation of artists from China in the 2025, 2027, and 2029 Bienal editions.

The partnership commemorates ICI’s 50th Anniversary by expanding upon the aims of our first traveling exhibition, which premiered at the 13th Bienal de São Paulo and defined a common language of video as an artistic medium and powerful witness. In 1975, the groundbreaking VIDEOART U.S.A. was reconfigured by curator Jack Boulton for ICI based on a 1973 exhibition initially curated by Suzanne Delehanty, and served as the American representation in the Brazilian biennial. That exhibition included an early international showing of work by pioneering video artists—such as Lynda Benglis, Nam June Paik, Keith Sonnier, and Vito Acconci—and proceeded to travel through Latin America, becoming influential in the development of artistic practice and new media across the continent. Since then, Independent Curators International has supported the work and advancement of curators in contemporary art in more than 75 countries, and has forged an unparalleled global network of curators—one of the only organizations in the world that can make that claim.

ICI expresses profound gratitude to ICI Trustee Sarina Tang for spearheading this initiative with FBSP, and to the many partners and supporters who have been instrumental in our success over the past 50 years. We invite everyone to join in the celebration as we embark on the next 50 years of supporting the work of curators around the world.