36th Bienal de São Paulo set to open in September with free admission and international programmes
The 36th Bienal de São Paulo, titled Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice, opens on 6 September 2025 at the Bienal Pavilion, inviting visitors to explore humanity as an active practice through art. Inspired by the poetry of Conceição Evaristo, the exhibition brings together 120 participants at the Pavilion, with additional contributions at Casa do Povo, offering audiences a rich programme of encounters, dialogues, and cultural exploration.
Apparitions, Juliana dos Santos, Bienal de São Paulo and WAVA
The Bienal launches two expansive public programmes this year: Conjugations and Apparitions. Conjugations features debates, performances, and collaborative activations developed with cultural institutions from cities such as Kampala, Cotonou, New York, Berlin, and Singapore. Each institution curates meetings in São Paulo, bringing together artists, thinkers, and audiences to explore how different geographies and communities express humanity in everyday practices, creating a global dialogue that connects São Paulo with the wider world.
Apparitions, developed in partnership with the WAVA platform, uses augmented reality to extend the Bienal beyond the Pavilion. Through the app, visitors can access digital fragments, echoes, and extensions of the exhibition in Ibirapuera Park and selected international locations, creating site-specific encounters that expand the experience of the Bienal across continents.
Andrew Roberts for Apparitions, Bienal de São Paulo and WAVA
The 36th edition is curated by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, alongside co-curators Alya Sebti, Anna Roberta Goetz, and Thiago de Paula Souza, with Keyna Eleison as co-curator at large, communications and strategy consultant Henriette Gallus, and curatorial assistants Andre Pitol and Leonardo Matsuhei. “One of the many ways of conjugating humanity is by creating encounters. Humanity is not an abstract noun, but a verb and practice in encounters, in words, in crossings. Both Conjugations and Apparitions are epitomes of such encounters through which humanities can be formulated: by activating networks and presences in different geographies, we are making a Bienal in constant flux,” says Ndikung. Together, these programmes transform the 36th edition into a Bienal that bridges audiences, ideas, and artistic practices worldwide.
Date: 6 September 2025 – 11 January 2026. Location: Bienal Pavilion, São Paulo. Price:Free 36.bienal.org
