Prof. Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung is a curator, author and biotechnologist, currently serving as director and chief curator of Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) Berlin, Germany. He is the founder and former artistic director of SAVVY Contemporary in Berlin, as well as the artistic director of sonsbeek20->24, a quadrennial contemporary art exhibition in Arnhem, the Netherlands. He also worked as curator-at-large for Adam Szymczyk’s documenta 14 in Athens, Greece and Kassel, Germany in 2017 and was guest curator of the Dak’Art: African Contemporary Art Biennale in Dakar, Senegal, in 2018. Additionally, he served as the artistic director for the 12th and 13th editions of the Bamako Encounters – African Biennale of Photography in Mali, taking on this role in 2019 and 2022. Together with the Miracle Workers Collective, he curated the Finnish Pavilion at the 58th Biennale di Venezia, 2019. Prof. Dr. Ndikung was a guest professor in curatorial studies and sound art at the Städelschule in Frankfurt, and he is currently a professor and head of faculty in the Spatial Strategies Master’s program at the weißensee academy of art berlin. He was the recipient of the first OCAD University International Curators Residency fellowship in Toronto in 2020. His published works include, inter alia, The Delusions of Care (2021), An Ongoing-Offcoming Tale: Ruminations on Art, Culture, Politics and Us/Others (2022) and Pidginization as Curatorial Method (2023).
Alya Sebti (Casablanca, Morocco, 1983) is a contemporary art curator and director of ifa-Galerie (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen) in Berlin (Germany), where she created the research and exhibition platform Untie to Tie – on colonial legacies in contemporary societies. Her independent curatorial practice focuses on the Biennale format as a space of encounter. She was co-curator of the European Manifesta biennial in Marseille in 2020, guest curator of the 2018 Biennale de Dakar in Senegal, and artistic director of the 2014 Marrakech Biennale in Morocco. She has also staged exhibitions in several countries and has written extensively on art and the public sphere. She has supervised curatorial research with mentoring programs at the ZK/U artist residency in Berlin and at MACAAL in Marrakech with a focus on contemporary practices in relation to post-independence artistic languages in North and West Africa.
Anna Roberta Goetz (Basel, Switzerland, 1984) is a curator and writer living between Switzerland and Mexico. Her research interests include artistic strategies that challenge hierarchies and narratives prevalent in society. She has worked at the Marta Herford Museum and the MMK Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt, both in Germany, and was assistant curator and project manager of the German Pavilion at the 55th Venice Biennale, 2013. She has staged outstanding solo and group exhibitions in several countries and has taught at various international art schools, such as the Zurich University of the Arts (Switzerland) and the Städelschule in Frankfurt (Germany). She is widely published in art magazines and has a number of recent and forthcoming publications, including Rodney McMillian: The Land: Not Without a Politic, organized with Kathleen Rahn (2024) and Cinthia Marcelle – By Means of Doubt, organized with Isabella Rjeille (2023).
Thiago de Paula Souza (São Paulo, Brazil, 1985) is curator and educator. He is interested in stretching and re-elaborating the exhibition format as well as in the intersection of contemporary art and education in the creation of new ethical codes. He is co-curating the 38th Panorama of Brazilian Art at the MAM São Paulo (2024). Recently, he co-curated Some May Work as Symbols: Art Made in Brazil, 1950s–70s, at Raven Row in London. Between 2022 and 2023, he was co-curator of the Nomadic Program at the Vleeshal Center for Contemporary Art (The Netherlands). In 2022, he co-curated While we are embattled (Para Site, Hong Kong) and Acts of revolt (MAM Rio, Brazil). Between 2020 and 2021, he was part of the curatorial team of the 3rd edition of Frestas – Triennial of Arts, São Paulo. He also was a curatorial advisor for the 58th Carnegie International (2021/2022, United States). In 2018/2019, he curated Tony Cokes’ first solo exhibition in The Netherlands, at BAK (Utrecht). He was a member of the curatorial team of the 10th Berlin Biennale (2018). He’s currently a member of the Artistic Committee of NESR Art Foundation, in Angola, and a PhD candidate at HDK Valand – University of Gothenburg (Sweden).
Keyna Eleison (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 1979) is a curator, researcher, and educator in art and culture. With a degree in philosophy from UFRJ, a specialist degree in history of art and architecture and a master’s degree in art history from PUC-Rio, she took part in the legitimation of Cais do Valongo as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Eleison coordinated all public institutions from the Rio de Janeiro Municipal Department of Culture and taught at the Escola de Artes Visuais do Parque Lage, where she was also teaching coordinator. She writes for Contemporary & magazine and, since 2019, is the founder of the collective Nacional Trovoa, showcasing the artistic production of black and non-white women. She was the curator of the 10th Bienal Internacional de SIART in Bolivia (2018), the curator of the 1st Bienal das Amazônias (2023), the artistic director of the Museu de Arte Moderna do Rio de Janeiro (2020-2023) and director of research and content at the Bienal das Amazônias.
Henriette Gallus (Grevesmühlen, German Democratic Republic, 1983) is a communication and cultural strategist as well as an editor. After working as an editor and literary agent from 2005 onwards, in 2011 she became the press officer of dOCUMENTA (13) (2012), and from 2014 head of communications of the 14th edition of documenta in both Kassel and Athens (2017). From 2018-2022 she was deputy director of steirischer herbst festival for contemporary art in Graz, until she became deputy director of Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW), Berlin, in 2022. She has advised numerous cultural institutions worldwide, among them: sonsbeek 20–>24, Arnhem; Rencontres de Bamako, Mali, 2018 and 2022; the German Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale, 2019; Württembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, 2021, and Castello di Rivoli – Museo d’Arte Contemporeana, Turin from 2017 to 2023.
André Pitol is an art researcher, curator, and professor with a PhD from the Universidade de São Paulo (USP). He teaches at École Intuit Lab São Paulo and at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP). He has written essays for e-flux, The Brooklyn Rail, Photographies, Mídia Ninja, and ZUM. He curated Edival Ramosa – Nova construção totêmica (2024) and served as adjunct curator of A parábola do progresso (2022).
Leonardo Matsuhei holds a bachelor’s degree and a teaching degree in visual arts from Universidade do Estado de São Paulo (Unesp). Since 2009, he has developed projects at the intersection of education, public programming, and curatorship. He coordinated educational initiatives for the exhibitions Gilberto Mendes 100 and Ars sonora – Hermeto Pascoal (Sesc SP, 2022–2024). He was a mediation and public programs assistant at MASP (2016–2019) and collaborated on the Encontros Abertos project of the 31st Bienal de São Paulo (2013–2014). Since 2021, he has been part of the independent collective and cultural space Bananal.
The Berlin studio Yukiko, founded by Michelle Phillips and Johannes Conrad, will be responsible for the visual identity of the 36th Bienal. Renowned for its experimental style, the studio brings an approach that dialogues directly with the curatorial concept of this edition, creating a visual and graphic experience that reinforces the role of listening and the idea of confluences based on the image of the estuary.
The designers explain: “The visual concept for the 36th Bienal de São Paulo is inspired by the idea of humanity as a practice, emphasizing interconnectedness, empathy, and creative coexistence. Drawing from the curatorial axis of sound and the manguebit movement, the visual identity is grounded in polyphonic sound waves and the harmonic series, symbolizing the overlapping frequencies of human experiences. These sound waves represent the idea that humanity is constantly evolving and reshaping through encounters, much like the estuary, where multiple worlds meet and blend. This visual manifestation reinforces the Bienal’s core message: that through intentional listening and deep reflection, we can reimagine humanity as a living, breathing practice.”