Irmandade Vilanismo is a collective founded in 2021 in São Paulo, currently composed of ten Black artists: Ramo, Renan Teles, Guto Oca, Rodrigo Zaim, Robson Marques, Rafa Black, Diego Crux, Denis Moreira, Daniel Ramos, and Carinhoso. Acting as a contemporary quilombo, the group functions both as a support network for the Black community and as an agent within the contemporary art circuit.
The collective enables the sharing of experiences, techniques, and reflections, expanding its articulation with cultural institutions, galleries, and other agents in the art system. Its interests encompass themes such as the imaginary of the “villain,” the intersections between Blackness, gender, and race, and the struggle for dignity, territory, and full life.
Vilanismo occupies the exhibition space as a brotherhood in counter-movement, destabilizing the negative image of the “villain” to transform it into critical—both aesthetic and political—power. This collective practice brings together different artistic trajectories around the Black male experience, activating symbolic disputes over body, language, territory, and power.
The installation Os meninos não sei que juras fraternas fizeram [The boys, I don’t know what fraternal vows they made], presented at this edition of the Bienal, is structured as an expanded studio. Within it, works by all members intertwine—paintings, sculptures, objects, videos, furniture, and publications—in a composition that blends rigor and improvisation. The space functions as a meeting and activation point, open to performances, conversations, and collective actions throughout the exhibition period.
Among the highlights are the collective banner, printed on black fabric with white letters declaring “Vilanismo CNTR Movimento” (2 meters high by 3 meters wide); the painting Equilibristas [Tightrope Walkers], by Denis Moreira, depicting two boys balancing each other in a gesture of risk and solidarity (1.40 meters high by 1.25 meters wide), made with acrylic paint, charcoal, and oil pastel on canvas; as well as graphic and editorial works that evoke mutual aid and community conspiracy.
The environment is porous, with discontinuous walls that accommodate neon lights, paintings, clothes, furniture, and sculptures. The installation’s title is inspired by Conceição Evaristo’s short story “A gente combinamos de não morrer” [We agreed not to die].
During the public program, the space will be activated by workshops, conversations, processions, and performances, reaffirming Vilanismo as an insurgent practice, where the artwork is also a space of togetherness, political articulation, and the invention of more equitable futures, with knowledge distributed in a non-hierarchical way.