Only in Brazil: A Conversation with Rotas Brasileiras Founder Fernanda Feitosa about her Second Art Fair, Now in its Second Year

The contemporary art world is increasingly homogenized, with mega-galleries like Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth and Pace expanding across the globe and two art-fair groups, Art Basel and Frieze—which recently acquired Expo Chicago and the Armory Show in New York—consolidating in like fashion. Going to a fair these days might seem like “same art, different city.” 

Which is why the premise of the Rotas Brasileiras art fair, operated by SP-Arte and now in its second year, sounds fresh and compelling. Rotas is a curated fair focused on Brazilian art exclusively, with a special interest in regional and  indigenous work. 

I corresponded with Rotas Brasileiras founder and executive director Fernanda Feitosa about next week’s sophomore edition.

My understanding is that this fair is particularly attuned to indigenous art, an area of growing global importance. Can you expand on this aspect of the fair?

Rotas Brasileiras is different from everything we did and especially from the main event [SP-Arte] taking place in April. It is a one hundred-percent curated art fair, with only Brazilian galleries. It is in fact more attuned to overlooked artists in Brazil in general, not only indigenous, but also regional artists from the very north of the country, Black artists, non-academic or self-taught artists, so-called “popular artists.”

All of these artistic productions have gained a growing global importance, especially during the pandemic. It is a new zeitgeist that hits the global art market. I wanted to produce an event that speaks to our DNA and identity as a country and its diverse culture.

The fair also embraces independent projects, non-commercial spaces and artist-run spaces. 

Last year was its first edition. What’s changed this year and why? 

Last year was a huge success and a very exciting event. People got really emotional. So we did not feel we should make any changes to our plan other than a few improvements that would contribute to the experience of our visitors, such as a more comfortable restaurant and a collectors lounge to relax and make connections.

Fernanda Feitosa, COO Felipe Feitosa and Tamara Perlman, director of fairs

This is an intrinsically Brazilian fair, as opposed to the international gallery representation sought by most fairs. As a foreigner, I find that an exciting prospect, to see work and galleries I won’t see elsewhere. What will be particularly appealing to the non-Brazilian fair visitor? 

That is exactly the point. If we, as “locals,” were deeply touched by the event and excited about it, imagine the reaction of foreign visitors! What you see here you won’t see anywhere else. So the immersion that this event offers to the international public is immense and a chance to comprehend the Brazilian cultural diversity, creativity and plurality. The event is provocative and surprising because of the quality of our direction and of the projects that we select and discuss with the galleries. It brings a sense of belonging and identity that we did not expect.

Tell me about the venue. What are its pros and cons versus SP-Arte’s long-term home in Ibirapuera Park? 

The venue is an old metallurgical plant built in the 1960s as one of the symbols of industrialization of São Paulo. The 27,000-square-meter pavilion in the Ibirapuera Park [where SP-Arte takes place]  is home to the SP Bienal in 1953, designed by Pritzker-laureate Oscar Niemeyer (who also built Brasilia) to transform São Paulo as a city of modernism and to bring international art to Brazil. They are two different venues for two different purposes, but both symbolizing the potential of the city of São Paulo to transform itself.

Every two years, you’re in close proximity to the SP Bienal, like this year. Does that change anything? 

This is the first time the event takes place so close to the SP Bienal and it looks like a very good timing. We get more foreign visitors that travel to São Paulo to see the Bienal, one of the most important art events in the world. Such visitors also get to see a Brazilian exhibition of the nature of Rotas that offers an immersion into Brazilian culture.

Finally, what else should be on the global art traveler’s radar when visiting Rotas and perhaps staying for the Bienal? 

Definitely one should not miss the various exhibitions organized by galleries and museums, such as the Venezuelan Yanomami artist Sheroanawe Hakihiiwe and the pre-Columbian collection of Julio Landmann at MASP, artists Sonia Gomes, Antonio Obá and Argentinian artist Marta Minujin at Pinacoteca and new works produced by Maxwell Alexandre at Casa SP-Arte, our permanent exhibition space, in partnership with Galeria Millan. Aside from museums, there are more than twenty openings at galleries in SP. The fair has created a Circuit with the best exhibitions in town that you can access either by downloading the Fair’s APP or at the Circuits Agenda within our website SP-Arte.

Rotas Brasileiras opens August 30 and runs through September 3 at ARCA, Manuel Bandeira Avenue, 360, Vila Leopoldina, São Paulo.