The Fundação Bienal de São Paulo has announced the full list of participating artists for the 36th Edition of the Bienal de São Paulo.
The next edition of the Bienal will take place at the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion in São Paulo from 6 September 2025 until 11 January 2026.
The title, Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice, was conceived by curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung with co-curators Alya Sebti, Anna Roberta Goetz, Thiago de Paula Souza, co-curator at large Keyna Eleison, alongside communications and strategy advisor Henriette Gallus.
The concept is derived from a poem by Conceição Evaristo, entitled Da calma e do silêncio [Of Calm and Silence], which takes on the act of listening attentively as a form of continuously meeting with the world, experiencing it and also being displaced in it.
The 120 participating artists were selected by the curatorial team through a process inspired by the migration patterns of birds. The method traces routes across continents and climate zones, reflecting curation as a carrier of culture across artificial borders, enabling a constant cycle of renewal in ongoing migration.
“Through these paths, we brought together artists from all corners of the world for the 36th Bienal de São Paulo. Water is fundamental to human existence and the basis of life. The Bienal’s Invocation themes are organised around these multiple bodies of water – oceans, seas, lakes, rivers, and streams – and their confluences, such as estuaries. These serve as metaphors for encounters between cultures, human beings, and animate and inanimate beings, as well as what we can learn from one another. Despite humanity’s efforts to control the flow of water and the migration of birds, all waters are connected, and birds still migrate without passports or visas. Humans could be better if they learned from other beings,” Ndikung shares.
In addition to the main exhibition at the Bienal Pavilion, five additional artists will present their work as part of the Bienal Tributaries programme at Casa do Povo, curated by Benjamin Seroussi and Daniel Blanga Gubbay.
The selected artists come from territories around the world, with the rich histories and landscapes of their places of origin contributing to the diversity of the practices on display at the Bienal. Working across various disciplines including painting, sculpture, video, performance art, writing and music, the artists will delve into questions surrounding the environment, oral histories, community and the departure from Western-centric ideas in many of their presentations.
Each will bring their unique visions and practices to the Bienal through old and new work, including Amina Agueznay, Behjat Sadr, Cevdet Erek, Chaïbia Talal, Farid Belkahia, Forensic Architecture, Forugh Farrokhzad, Hajra Waheed, Hamedine Kane, Hamid Zénati, Huguette Caland, Kader Attia, Kamala Ibrahim Ishag, Laila Hida, Leila Alaoui, Madiha Umar, Malika Agueznay, Meriem Bennani, Mohamed Melehi, and Noor Abed.
The Bienal de São Paulo, founded in 1951, remains the most extensive art event in the Southern Hemisphere, held by the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, which runs a programme of travelling exhibitions across cities in Brazil and the rest of the world alongside the Bienal event.
Participating artists in the Bienal Pavilion:
Adama Delphine Fawundu
Adjani Okpu-Egbe
Aislan Pankararu
Akinbode Akinbiyi
Alain Padeau
Alberto Pitta
Aline Baiana
Amina Agueznay
Ana Raylander Mártis dos Anjos
Andrew Roberts
Antonio Társis
Behjat Sadr
Berenice Olmedo
Bertina Lopes
Camille Turner
Carla Gueye
Cevdet Erek
Chaïbia Talal
Christopher Cozier
Cici Wu
Cynthia Hawkins
Edival Ramosa
Emeka Ogboh
Ernest Cole
Ernest Mancoba
Farid Belkahia
Firelei Báez
Forensic Architecture
Forugh Farrokhzad
Frank Bowling
Frankétienne
Gê Viana
Gervane de Paula
Gōzō Yoshimasu
Hajra Waheed
Hamedine Kane
Hamid Zénati
Hao Jingban
Heitor dos Prazeres
Helena Uambembe
Hessie (Carmen Lydia Đurić)
Huguette Caland
I Gusti Ayu Kadek Murniasih (Murni)
Imran Mir
Isa Genzken
Joar Nango with the Girjegumpi crew
Josèfa Ntjam
Juliana dos Santos
Julianknxx
Kader Attia
Kamala Ibrahim Ishag
Kenzi Shiokava
Korakrit Arunanondchai
Laila Hida
Laure Prouvost
Leiko Ikemura
Leila Alaoui
Leo Asemota
Leonel Vásquez
Lidia Lisbôa
Lynn Hershman Leeson
Madame Zo
Madiha Umar
Malika Agueznay
Manauara Clandestina
Mansour Ciss Kanakassy
Mao Ishikawa
Márcia Falcão
Maria Auxiliadora
María Magdalena Campos-Pons
Marlene Almeida
Maxwell Alexandre
Meriem Bennani
Metta Pracrutti
Michele Ciacciofera
Ming Smith
Minia Biabiany
Moffat Takadiwa
Mohamed Melehi
Moisés Patrício
Myriam Omar Awadi
Myrlande Constant
Nádia Taquary
Nari Ward
Nguyễn Trinh Thi
Noor Abed
Nzante Spee
Olivier Marboeuf
Olu Oguibe
Oscar Murillo
Otobong Nkanga
Pélagie Gbaguidi
Pol Taburet
Precious Okoyomon
Raukura Turei
Raven Chacon com Iggor Cavalera & Laima Leyton
Rebeca Carapiá
Richianny Ratovo
Ruth Ige
Sadikou Oukpedjo
Sallisa Rosa
Sara Sejin Chang (Sara van der Heide)
Sérgio Soarez
Sertão Negro
Sharon Hayes
Shuvinai Ashoona
Simnikiwe Buhlungu
Song Dong
Suchitra Mattai
Tanka Fonta
Thania Petersen
Theo Eshetu
Théodore Diouf
Theresah Ankomah
Trương Công Tùng
Tuần Andrew Nguyễn
Vilanismo
Werewere Liking
Wolfgang Tillmans
Zózimo Bulbul
Participating artist in the Bienal Tributaries program at Casa do Povo:
Alexandre Paulikevitch
Boxe Autônomo
Dorothée Munyaneza
Marcelo Evelin
MEXA
Bienal de São Paulo runs from 6 September 2025 to 11 January 2026
