The 36th Bienal de São Paulo opens in September with global public programming and expanded experiences both inside and outside the Pavilion
Exhibition opens on September 6 at the Bienal Pavilion with free admission and runs until January 2026; Conjugations and Apparitions programs expand the experience of the forthcoming edition with international connections
The 36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice opens on September 6, with free admission until January 11, 2026. With the opening of the exhibition, the Bienal also launches its public program, the Conjugations: a series of debates, gatherings, performances, and activations, some of which are developed in collaboration with cultural institutions from various parts of the world and presented at the Bienal Pavilion throughout the exhibition’s four-month run.
The initiative seeks to explore how these institutions, grounded in different geographies, conjugate the notion of humanity through their everyday practices. Each organization invited curates a meeting in São Paulo involving thinkers, artists, performers, and diverse audiences, activating global connections with the local context. The institutions are:
32º East (Kampala)
Africa Design School (Cotonou)
Afrotonizar (Salvador)
Ajabu ajabu (Dar es Salaam)
blaxTARLINES (Kumasi)
Center for Art, Research and Alliances / CARA (New York)
Central Bank Museum (Port of Spain)
Festa Literária das Periferias – FLUP (Rio de Janeiro)
Fondation H (Antananarivo)
Jatiwangi Art Factory (Jatiwangi)
Kunsthochschule Weißensee (Berlin)
Más Arte Más Acción (Chocó)
Metro54 (Amsterdam)
SAVVY Contemporary (Berlin)
Tanoto Art Foundation (Singapore)
Another highlight of this edition is the Apparitions project, an unprecedented initiative in the history of the Bienal de São Paulo, developed in partnership with the WAVA platform. Using augmented reality technology, fragments, extensions, and echoes of the works in the Bienal de São Paulo manifest themselves in Ibirapuera Park and specific locations around the world, chosen by the artists themselves – such as the banks of the Congo River, the border between Mexico and the United States, urban parks in São Paulo or cities in Africa and Asia. Through the app, visitors can access the works only at the designated locations, creating a situated and globally accessible sensory experience.
“One of the many ways of conjugating humanity is by creating encounters. humanity is not an abstract noun, but a verb andpractice in encounters, in words, in crossings. Both Conjugations and Apparitions are epitomizes 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. Like the migratory birds that inspire our curatorial strategy, these actions cross territories, carrying and collecting meanings”, says the general curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung.
Both Conjugations and Apparitions not only decentralize the experience of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, but also broaden its curatorial proposal, creating a network of listening, presence, and participation that crosses continents.
“It is a joy for our management to make it possible for unprecedented projects to be conceived especially for this edition of the Bienal”, says Andrea Pinheiro, president of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo. “Programs such as Conjugations and Apparitions not only expand this edition, but further reinforce the Bienal de São Paulo’s vocation as a space of connection, which crosses borders and builds bridges between different audiences and cultures”, she concludes.
Download WAVA to get the full experience after the opening of the Bienal.