The Ministry of Culture, the Government of the State of São Paulo, through the Secretariat of Culture, Creative Economy and Industry, the Municipal Secretariat of Culture and Creative Economy of the City of São Paulo, the São Paulo Biennial Foundation, the Oscar Niemeyer Museum and Itaú present
The São Paulo Biennial Foundation returns to the Oscar Niemeyer Museum for the third time with the itinerant program of the 36th São Paulo Biennial.
Following previous editions in 2011 and 2024, the Biennial returns to Curitiba with an exhibition from March 19th to June 7th, bringing together eighteen participants from various locations in Brazil and abroad.
São Paulo, March xx, 2026 – The São Paulo Biennial Foundation continues with the traveling exhibition program of the 36th São Paulo Biennial, which will tour more than ten cities in Brazil and abroad in 2026. In partnership with the Government of the State of Paraná, through the State Secretariat of Culture, the Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON) will once again host the program, consolidating a partnership that is renewed for the third time.
For this stage of the program, the Foundation is bringing to the capital of Paraná, from March 19th to June 7th, a selection from the exhibition that attracted more than 784 thousand visitors to the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion. Held programmatically since 2011, these traveling exhibitions have become a fundamental extension of the São Paulo Biennial, allowing works and debates presented at the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion to be reconfigured in dialogue with diverse local contexts, activating new interpretations and relationships with audiences outside the main exhibition area.
In Curitiba, the selection from the traveling exhibition is curated by Anna Roberta Goetz, co-curator of the 36th Biennial, and brings together works by eighteen participants: Adjani Okpu-Egbe, Alain Padeau, Ana RaylanderMártis dos Anjos, Emeka Ogboh, Ernest Cole, Forensic Architecture/Forensis, Gervane de Paula, Helena Uambembe, Julianknxx, LeikoIkemura, Mao Ishikawa, Maria Auxiliadora, Ming Smith, Nádia Taquary, Olu Oguibe, Raukura Turei, Ruth Ige, and Sertão Negro.
For Andrea Pinheiro, president of the São Paulo Biennial Foundation, returning to the Oscar Niemeyer Museum for the third time is an important step for the Foundation. "Curitiba and the MON are fundamental allies in our commitment to decentralizing the Brazilian art circuit. With each edition of the São Paulo Biennial, we have sought to expand our reach and ensure that what was presented in the Pavilion continues to resonate in other cities across the country," she states.
The CEO of MON, Juliana Vosnika, comments that art should reach the largest possible number of people, breaking down barriers and sensitizing all audiences. "That's why, for the second consecutive time, we are hosting the São Paulo Biennial, one of the most important art exhibitions in the world, which leaves its headquarters, transcends geographical boundaries, and amplifies its voice," she says.
Juliana also comments on art's ability to communicate without words, which for many has been a pause amidst the hurried digital world. Therefore, it provides a deep and present connection that would often not be possible in any other way. "By participating in the itinerant exhibition of this important event, MON reaffirms its mission to make art accessible to everyone," she states.
In addition to the circulation of the works, the traveling exhibition program is structured around a cross-cutting educational axis, with training aimed at local teams, online and in-person meetings, pedagogical support, and actions for different audiences, such as guided tours, lectures, workshops for teachers, and educational activities for students.
"Curitiba allowed us to observe how the works transform when displaced from the original context of the Biennial, how they respond to a different architecture, to an audience with other references, and to a distinct rhythm of enjoyment," reflects Anna Roberta Goetz, co-curator of the 36th São Paulo Biennial and responsible for curating the itinerant exhibition in Curitiba. "The selection for the Oscar Niemeyer Museum was conceived to create productive tensions between diverse geographies and temporalities, based on what was proposed for the Biennial Pavilion. Working with fragments is an intentional selection that forces the works to adapt, opening the way for readings that the original installation did not necessarily anticipate," she analyzes.
About the 36th São Paulo Biennial
With a concept created by general curator Bonaventure Soh BejengNdikung, in partnership with co-curators Alya Sebti, Anna Roberta Goetz and Thiago de Paula Souza, co-curator at large Keyna Eleison and communication and strategy consultant Henriette Gallus, as well as adjunct co-curators André Pitol and Leonardo Matsuhei, the 36th São Paulo Biennial – Not every traveler walks roads – Of humanity as practice is inspired by the poem “Of calm and silence”, by the writer ConceiçãoEvaristo, and has as one of its main foundations the active listening to humanity in constant displacement, encounter and negotiation.
The São Paulo Biennial Foundation thanks its strategic partner Itaú and its master sponsors Bloomberg, Bradesco, Citi, Petrobras, Vale, and Vivo.
This project is carried out with resources from the Incentive Law for Culture, the Ministry of Culture, and the Government of Brazil, along withthe Brazilian people.
About the Oscar Niemeyer Museum
The Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON) is a state-owned property linked to the State Secretariat of Culture. The institution houses important references of national and international artistic production in the areas of visual arts, architecture and design, in addition to grand Asian and African collections. In total, the collection has approximately 14,000 works of art, housed in a space of over 35,000 square meters of built area, which makes MON the largest art museum in Latin America.
About the São Paulo Biennial Foundation
Founded in 1962, the São Paulo Biennial Foundation is a private, non-profit institution with no political or religious affiliations, whose actions aim to democratize access to culture and stimulate interest in artistic creation. Every two years, the Foundation organizes the São Paulo Biennial, the largest exhibition in the Southern Hemisphere, created in 1951, and its traveling exhibitions in various cities in Brazil and abroad. The institution is also the guardian of two artistic and cultural heritage sites in Latin America: a historical archive of modern and contemporary art, a reference point in Latin America (the Wanda Svevo Historical Archive), and the Ciccillo Matarazzo Pavilion, headquarters of the Foundation, designed by Oscar Niemeyer and listed as a historical landmark. The São Paulo Biennial Foundation is also responsible for conceiving and producing Brazilian representations at the Venice Biennales of art and architecture, a prerogative granted to it decades ago by the Federal Government in recognition of the excellence of its contributions to Brazilian culture.
