Conjugations – LISTEN! · ESCUTEM! – Más Arte Más Acción
On October 26, as part of Conjugations, the public program of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo – which brings together institutions from around the world to collectively connect, explore, and celebrate humanity – Más Arte Más Acción will present LISTEN! · ESCUTEM!, part of the project Around a Tree. The event will take place from 1:30 pm to 4 pm at the Varanda Bienal, the outdoor area of the Pavilion.
Presented within Conjugations at the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, Around a Tree invites visitors to listen deeply to the messages of nature and science and to attune to the resonances that emerge when humans become more aware of plants. For this event, the soundscape is presented in its simplest form, letting sound itself take centre stage – an homage to nature in Ibirapuera Park.
The recordings trace a network of people and places engaged in an ongoing conversation between humans and plants. Together they form an acoustic map of connection and care, a reminder that
listening is a vital act in this time of climate and biodiversity crisis. Produced by Más Arte Más Acción with collaborators and composed by sound artist Miguel Navas, the piece interweaves the voices of scientists, conservationists, forest guardians and the sounds of forests captured during diverse events in 2024–25 including the Annual Meeting of the Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation in Kigali, Rwanda; the International Botanical Congress in Madrid; the Edinburgh Art Festival at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scotland; COP16 in Cali, Colombia; and Guainía in the Colombian Amazon.
Más Arte Más Acción (MAMA) is a Colombian foundation founded by Jonathan Colin and Fernando Arias that brings art, ecology and social challenges together through collaborative place-
based projects. Since 2009, MAMA has created spaces for artists, scientists and communities to reflect, connect and act. Its current project Around a Tree (2024–25) invites people to listen, share
and imagine new ways of relating to plants and the world we inhabit.
Miguel Navas is a Colombian composer and sound designer whose work explores listening as a bridge between nature, science and ancestral knowledge. Combining electronic composition, field
recording and collaborations with Indigenous elders, his practice focuses on deep listening to the natural world. His first sound art project El Origen de la Noche (2017) created with the collective 4 Direcciones marked his entry into contemporary art. He has since collaborated with Más Arte Más Acción at documenta fifteen and the Edinburgh Art Festival 2024. As Savan, he has released
several musical works including Antes del Amanecer.
Conjugations – LISTEN! · ESCUTEM! – Más Arte Más Acción
36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice
October 26, 2025
Sunday, 1:30 pm
Varanda Bienal
Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo
Ibirapuera Park, Gate 3
Av. Pedro Álvares Cabral, s/n
São Paulo, Brazil
free admission