Paulo Herkenhoff
General introduction
What is my desire worth to you? An eternal question posed in the lovers' dialogue.1 We were capable of far worse atracities 2 -What ghost is this that appears in those moments of desire's greatest plenitude? What metaphor is this that symbolizes a terrible fear of otherness? This text reveals the curatorial parameters adopted in the constitution of the Núcleo Histórico [Historical Nucleus] ofthe XXIV Bienal de São Paulo. We did not endeavor to develop a totalizing ar triumphantvision ofthe issue of antropofagia. The curatorship ofthe XXIV Bienal de São Paulo took on as a starting point the "thickness 3 ofthe gaze," following Jean-François Lyotard's Discours,figure, as an operational concept displaced towards the idea of density. Thickness should not merely be present in art (its portrayal as "theme" would not be as significant), in the work of the curators, and above all, in the institution. The idea of a Núcleo Histórico indicates a cornerstone that differs fram the tradition of"special exhibition raoms ." We have abandoned the ideas of status ("special") ar territorialization ("exhibition raoms"), as we felt it necessary to define our concrete historical debate, integrated by conceptual criteria effectively developed in terms of ways of seeing in exhibition and texto The XXIV Bienal positions itself vis-à-vis the discipline of art history. We understand following Giulio Carla Argan that contemporary history and criticism are not irretrievably linked to one another, in which case there should not occur a split in the context ofthe Bienal. We also recognize the multiplicity ofhistory's threads and that, in the case of art, the Euracentric stance with its hegelian orientation, had created excluding parameters in the art enviranment. ln the negotiation ofloans of works, our choice led to a debate with directors fram museums that traditionally deny loans for thematic exhibitions, set against historical displays that add towards new understanding. The curators fram the Tate, the Pompidou ar fram MaMA were already familiar with the notion of antropofagia and were thus able to understand its historical sense within the perspective of the cultural formation ofBrazil more easily. A conceptual breadth, to accept an other history of art, was the stance of the Louvre, the Orsay, the Besançon and the Prado. Many understood that "differential" ofBrazilian culture, 4 others did noto
35 Introdução geral Pau lo Herkenh off