Francesco Stocchi (1975, Rome, Italy) is curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, since 2012. In addition, he is responsible for the artistic program of the Italian foundations Fondazione Carriero, in Milan, and Fondazione Memmo, in Rome. He has directed various publications, writes and holds regular conferences on art and visual culture. He lives in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Though it’s dark, still I sing
Seen more as a statement than a theme, the title of the 34th Biennial de São Paulo, Faz escuro mas eu canto [Though it’s dark, still I sing], is a line from a poem by Thiago de Mello, published in the book with the same name by the poet in 1965. In his work, the poet, who is from the Northern region of Brazil, speaks clearly about the problems and hopes of millions of men and women around the world: “Hope is universal, the social inequalities are also universal (…). We are a moment at which the apocalypse is gaining on utopia. For some time now I have made the choice: between apocalypse and utopia, I’m staying with utopia,” the writer says. Crivelli Visconti adds: “by its title, the 34th Bienal de São Paulo recognizes the state of anxiety of the contemporary world while underscoring the possibility of the existence of art as a gesture of resilience, hope and communication.”.

34th Bienal de São Paulo
The 34th Bienal de São Paulo was initiated in 1951 and is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennial, which was set up 1895 and served as its role model. The 34th Bienal represents a unique attempt to introduce a bold approach to one of the main conundrums of every edition: being able to be innovative and attuned to the most contemporary art practices, while not being perceived as cryptic or elitist by a large part of its more than 800,000 visitors. See more information here