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The “31st Biennial of Modern Art” includes this year a remarcable Basque presence thanks to Asier Mendizabal and Juan Perez Agirregoikoa.  The beginning of the event was attended by Aizpea Goenaga, Director of the Etxepare Basque Institute who during her stay also met with the Casa Basco Brasileira in Sao Paulo and the State University of Sao Paulo, to talk about the possibility of instituting a Basque language and culture lectureship. 

Sao Paulo, Brazil.  The Biennial of Modern Art in Sao Paulo is one of the largest in the work and includes the participation of renowned international artists.  This year Basque art was highly featured thanks to Asier Mendizabal and Juan Perez Agirregoikoa.  Their contribution, according to sources from the Casa Basco Brasileira was “impressive.”  Mendizabal, updating a sculpture by Jorge Oteiza in Lima, Peru in 1949; and Perez Agirregoikoa presented a film recorded in Sao Paulo, inspired by “The Gospel According to Matthew,” by Pier Paolo Pasolini.

“This biennial is one of the main international meeting points in the plastic art area, and this year it has selected two Basque artists; two among just 80!", says to EuskalKultura.com the Director of Etxepare Basque Institute Aizpea Goenaga.  "The Institute has sponsored their presence here, of course, and I have witnessed first hand the warm reception their have had. In addition, we have made some very interesting contacts".

Goenaga also visited the Casa Basco Brasileira and the campus of the State University of Sao Paulo (USP) along with the Basque club president, Oskar Goitia.  USP is the largest university in Latin America and Goenaga met with the Director of the Department of Modern Literature, Paola Bacci and with professor of Iberian Literature, Maria Augusta Vieira, to talk about Basque classes at USP and to consider the possibility of establishing a Basque language and culture lectureship in the near future, or that of an invited professor to participate in their post-graduate studies. 

Following, the Director of Etxepare and a group of Basque club members visited the Basque clubhouse and the Tremembe Cultural Center where classes on Basque language, dance and music are taught.