Sao Paulo biennale review chanting trees and hormonal humming create a cacophany of art

"Meditation and spiritual connection may be OK in small doses, but after three floors and 30,000 sq metres of darkened rooms, theatrical installations, altars and votive sculpture, more sound work than I've ever encountered in a single show, and a general encouragement to be moved, mesmerised and in touch with my spiritual side, my ears are ringing and I feel quite on edge."

"The Sao Paulo biennale, the second oldest art exhibition of its type in the world, takes the title Not All Travellers Walk Roads for its 36th edition, a line, which, with some irony, is from Of Calm and Silence, a poem by the Brazilian writer Conceicao Evaristo. In Cameroonian curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung's show of 120 artists, this translates as imagining alternative forms of consciousness, invariably looking to nature and non-western belief systems."

"The sound of birdsong greets you as you walk into the exhibition pavilion from Sao Paulo's Ibirapuera Park. There are birds outside, but this is the recorded soundtrack to a garden planted in the gallery by US-Nigerian artist Precious Okoyomon. It features fresh earth, boulders and a tranquil pool, a mass of moss and trees that bow in the Brazilian heat coming through the pavilion glass."

The Biennale occupies three floors and 30,000 sq metres of darkened rooms filled with theatrical installations, altars, votive sculpture and extensive sound work. The exhibition title Not All Travellers Walk Roads invokes alternative forms of consciousness and draws on a line from Conceicao Evaristo's poem. Curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung presents 120 artists focused on nature and non‑Western belief systems. Installations include a planted gallery garden by Precious Okoyomon with recorded birdsong, a video by Theo Eshetu featuring botanist testimony about plant consciousness, and sound installations by Ge Viana alongside collages referencing forest fauna and reggae traditions. The show encourages sensory, spiritual and contemplative engagement.

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