Pivô is an autonomous contemporary art platform founded in 2011, opened to the public 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
Architect and urban planner, she holds a degree from Mackenzie Presbyterian University, a degree in History from the University of São Paulo, a Master’s degree in Architecture and Urbanism from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), and a PhD in Theory and History of Architecture from the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. She completed postdoctoral fellowships at UFBA and at the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II. She is currently an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Architecture at UFBA and a permanent faculty member of its Graduate Program in Architecture and Urbanism. Her research focuses on the theory, history, and preservation of modern and contemporary architecture, with an extensive body of academic work dedicated to Lina Bo Bardi, particularly her activities in Salvador and the intersections between architecture, memory, heritage, and restoration.