Lisson artists featured in the 36th São Paulo Biennial

9 September 2025

From 6 September 2025 – 11 January 2026, the 36th São Paulo Biennial features Lisson Gallery artists Leiko Ikemura, Laure Prouvost, Otobong Nkanga, and Dalton Paula.

Entitled Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice, The central proposal of this Biennial is to rethink humanity as a verb, a living practice, in a world that requires reimagining relationships, asymmetries and listening as the basis for coexistence, based on three curatorial fragments/axes. The metaphor of the estuary – a place where different water currents meet and create a space for coexistence – guides the curatorial project, inspired by Brazilian philosophies, landscapes and mythologies. This concept reflects the multiplicity of encounters that have marked Brazil’s history and proposes that humanity comes together and transforms itself through an attentive ear and negotiation between different beings and worlds.

Leiko Ikemura’s work reflects the singular trajectory of a universal artist who, born in Mie province, Japan, has developed a poetic language shaped by the experience of displacement and a constant dialogue between cultures. This movement between different referential systems becomes especially evident in the Girls series, where Ikemura dismantles both kawaii aesthetics and the traditional male gaze imposed on the female body.

Laure Prouvost has assembled a new site-specific, delicate chandelier-like, kinetic multimedia installation at the center of the Pavilion that connects the architectural and conceptual levels of the exhibition. The installation is inspired by Evaristo’s poem and its suggestion to allow oneself to explore other paths, and ways of seeing, perceiving, thinking, moving and ultimately being, and be guided by all the senses. Its central component is a climbing plant that has been encouraged to grow freely and find its own paths for the duration of the exhibition, and whose growing sounds are amplified in the space.

Otobong Nkanga presents works in her Unearthed (2021) series, which encapsulates her ongoing exploration of humanity’s relationship to natural elements and the environment. This work will offer a critical reflection on contemporary ecological and geopolitical tensions, manifesting Nkanga’s commitment to highlighting environmental vulnerabilities and the shared responsibilities of stewardship and sustainability.

Founded by Ceiça Ferreira and Dalton Paula, Sertão Negro is both an aesthetic and political proposition, an initiative that challenges boundaries – between art and life, community and autonomy, collective organization, belonging, and displacement. The project is a space for creation that respects individuality within a joint action, where art is not confined to the production of objects but unfolds into a way of inhabiting the world.

Find out more via São Paulo Biennial.

Image © Laure Prouvost.