Welcome to Haus der Kulturen der Welt. Welcome to our exhibition Not All Travellers Walk Roads—Of Humanity as Practice, which is also the Berlin Edition of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo. Taking place in Germany for the very first time, this edition of the Bienal de São Paulo was conceived especially for Berlin. The exhibition unfolds as a distinct constellation of artistic positions, including newly conceived, adapted, and site-specific works.
With this introduction, we would like to give you a first overview of the exhibition and its curatorial concept. The audio tour then introduces selected works and artists throughout the exhibition. You can find them marked with a headphone symbol on the floor plans in the handbook. While the exhibition in São Paulo was curated by Prof Dr Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung and his conceptual team, the Berlin iteration of the exhibition is curated by Alya Sebti, one of the co-curators of this edition of the Bienal.
The exhibition proposes thinking about the world from the perspective of Brazil—listening to it, seeing it, feeling it, and perceiving it through Brazil’s histories, landscapes, philosophies, mythologies, and complexities. For Brazil, understood as a fiction, is a merging of many worlds and the points at which they meet. Against this backdrop, the exhibition understands being human as an ongoing practice, something that must be enacted, rehearsed and renewed every day. The exhibition unfolds its theme through three conceptual perspectives, which the curatorial team deliberately refers to as ‘fragments’.
The first fragment begins with the idea that everyone needs time and space. It invites us to slow down and pay attention to details in order to better perceive the world around us. Inspired by a poem by Brazilian writer Conceição Evaristo, it proposes embracing difference and restoring our connection with nature.
The second fragment asks how we recognize ourselves in others. It invites us to reflect on how we perceive ourselves and the people around us and on the barriers that exist within our society. It draws inspiration from a poem by Haitian poet René Depestre, which emphasizes the importance of responding to the needs of all people.
The third fragment is dedicated to spaces of encounter. It takes the manguebeat movement, which emerged in Recife in the 1990s, as its point of reference. The movement denounced social inequalities while celebrating the culture of communities connected to the mangrove ecosystems.
The exhibition also reflects on the histories and inequalities of Brazil and the wider world, asking how different cultures respond to difference and how this can open paths toward interaction, coexistence, and beauty.
The 36th Bienal de São Paulo also invites you to rethink humanity as a living practice. In a world marked by inequality, the Bienal proposes reimagining our relationships through listening, care, and coexistence.
The curatorial concept is inspired by the estuary: a place where fresh and saltwater meet, creating rich and diverse ecosystems. Brazil is home to many estuaries, many of which are threatened by environmental pollution.
The exhibition itself can also be understood as a space of encounter shaped by diversity: artists from different regions and backgrounds come together here to reflect on a world in which everyone has a place.
Like an estuary, the exhibition seeks to welcome and sustain diverse forms of life, strengthening the bonds between communities, art, education, and culture.
Inspired by the philosophies, landscapes, and mythologies of Brazil, the exhibition reflects the diversity of encounters that have shaped the country’s history and proposes a transformation grounded in respect and attentive listening between different beings and worlds.
The exhibition is an invitation to imagine other possible worlds and to understand humanity as an everyday practice in which joy, beauty, and poetry hold a central place.