Pivô is an autonomous contemporary art platform founded in 2012, dedicated to artistic exchange, research, and experimentation. At its core, the institution seeks to reflect on artistic practice and advance its understanding as a distinct form of thought and active participation in visual culture, society, and politics—operating as a space for proposing, investigating, exploring, and experimenting. This purpose unfolds through an ongoing program that includes commissioned projects, exhibitions, artist residencies, publications, and public programs, creating conditions for the creation and circulation of ideas in direct collaboration with artists, curators, and publics, both nationally and internationally.
Pivô Copan, the institution’s first venue, is housed within the iconic Copan building in downtown São Paulo, where it has consolidated this experimental and collaborative approach. In 2023, Pivô inaugurated its second venue in Salvador: Pivô Boulevard, situated in the historic Suíço Boulevard mansion, a former gathering place for movements such as Tropicália and Cinema Novo. This multidisciplinary platform reinforces the institution’s commitment to decentralization and the development of cultural networks in dialogue with diverse contexts.
The expansion in Salvador will continue with the opening of Pivô Coaty on Ladeira da Misericórdia, occupying buildings designed by Lina Bo Bardi and João Filgueiras Lima. Across all three venues, Pivô shares a desire to occupy and reclaim historically significant locations, transforming them into vibrant cultural centers that foster artistic dialogue and community engagement. This new chapter reaffirms the commitment to circulating situated knowledge and building diverse cultural ecosystems.
Today, Pivô operates as a network, privileging movement over stability through dynamics of exchange that value differences and specificities. More than physical spaces, it constitutes a dynamic field of artistic dialogue and ongoing investigation that has already welcomed hundreds of artists at different moments in their trajectories.
Pivô SP
Edifício Copan, loja 54
Avenida Ipiranga, 200
01046-925
São Paulo, Brasil
Pivô offers a special line of products, including stationery, clothing, accessories, and publications. The artists involved in our programming are specially invited to create exclusive products, adding an authentic and personal touch to each piece.
Space open to research and that aims to divulge contemporary artistic production. Its activities will be dedicated to the construction of a specialized collection, as a way of encouraging the institution’s programs, as well as research carried out by artists and those interested in the arts.
The residency program of Pivô Salvador welcomes artists for research and artistic production stays. Artists have the possibility to stay and carry out their work at a historic house located downtown Salvador
Pivô executes, produces, and promotes a variety of special projects, with programming open to the public or restricted to guests, in collaboration with local, national, and international partner institutions.
The Pivô Recebe program showcases projects pre-formatted by artists, curators, or cultural producers within the institution's spaces. Participating projects are selected based on conceptual affinity with the institution's program, feasibility of allocation, and schedule.