September at HKW
Press release, 26.8.2026
Not All Travellers Walk Roads—Of Humanity as Practice
36th Bienal de São Paulo, Berlin Edition
Exhibition
12 September–6 December
Opening 11 September, 17:30
With the exhibition Not All Travellers Walk Roads—Of Humanity as Practice, the 36th Bienal de São Paulo comes to Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW). Taking place in Germany for the very first time, the Berlin edition of one of the oldest and most influential biennials unfolds as a distinct constellation of artistic positions, including newly conceived, readapted, and site-specific works.
The exhibition rethinks humanity as a verb—a living practice that can renegotiate and dismantle prevailing asymmetries. Across installations, performances, sound works, storytelling, and spatial interventions, the participating artists critically engage the political and colonial inheritances embedded within modernity. In doing so, they articulate forms of resistance to dehumanization, extractivism, and monocultural thinking from São Paulo to Berlin and elsewhere. At the same time, the works cultivate gestures of care, nurturing, and interdependence that extend beyond the human, engaging with animal and plant life, memory, and spirit. Beauty emerges here as a political force, rooted in the ordinary, the fractured, and the unfinished.
On September 11 the exhibition opens with a three-day programme of performances, artist talks, guided tours, poetry, film, and music. The opening weekend features a performance by Julianknxx, a concert by Ray Lema Quintet, and a DJ set by Emeka Ogboh, alongside contributions by Aline Baiana, Abena P. A. Busia, Vilanismo with Akinbode Akinbiyi, Tuấn Andrew Nguyễn, and a curators’ tour with Alya Sebti and Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung. On Sunday, the opening weekend concludes with a programme dedicated to children and families.
Tickets: €10 / reduced €7
Free entry during the opening weekend
The opening of Not All Travellers Walk Roads—Of Humanity as Practice takes place as part of Berlin Art Week.
The Berlin edition of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo is presented by Petrobras and is part of Fundação Bienal de São Paulo’s travelling exhibitions programme, held since 2011.
Long Night of Museums 2026
A Night of Clues, Crimes, and Creatures of the Dark
Guided Tours, Treasure Hunt, Reading, Performances
Sat., 29.8., 18:00–00:00
Step into the shadows at HKW, where this year’s Long Night of Museums follows the tracks of some of Berlin’s most elusive nightwalkers. Foxes, furry creatures, and other nocturnal companions guide visitors through an evening of hidden stories and unexpected encounters. Young detectives can begin the evening by joining a treasure hunt and discover why protecting wildlife is more rewarding than hunting it—and perhaps leave with a painted fox face to match. As the evening unfolds, a spoken word performance unravels tales of crime and cunning, while a guided immersive tour opens up new ways of experiencing HKW. A late-night performance blurs virtual and physical worlds, as a queer, non-binary character and their virtual furry friends explore new ways of being together. Later in the evening, visitors are invited to join a listening session and a collective howl under the moon, with Discoteca Volpería Grandiosa keeping the night moving with a DJ set at Weltwirtschaft.
Tickets on Long Night of Museums
Free entry to DJ-Set in Weltwirtschaft restaurant
Talk Show: Multiple Crises
Conversations with Ouassima Laabich and Gilda Sahebi, moderated by Anna Dushime
Wed., 2 September, 18:30
The community-based media platform KARAKAYA TALKS has for years been addressing global power dynamics, violence, and crises, which in public debates are often discussed separately, in a simplified manner, or in a depoliticized sense.
Against this backdrop, the Talk Show: Multiple Crises is conceived as a public space for dialogue, in which different contexts of violence are not considered in isolation but in relation to one another. The focus is on the question of what becomes visible this way: Which patterns recur? Which narratives legitimize violence? Which forms of collective amnesia shape public debates? And what role does Germany play, as a media, political, and social agent, in the perception of these crises? Read more
With: Ouassima Laabich and Gilda Sahebi, moderated by Anna Dushime
Free entry with registration
The event is currently fully booked.
Sound Base Berlin
Praed. Dancing in Echtzeit
Concert, Conversation, DJ Set
Thu., 3 September, 19:30
How do you create music that works equally well on the dance floor, in a sound laboratory, and within a collective space of memory? For twenty years, Praed have been constantly seeking new and surprising answers to this question. The duo was founded in 2006 by Raed Yassin (vocals, synthesizer, sampling) and Paed Conca (clarinet, electric bass, electronics) and in its approach feels closely connected to Berlin’s Echtzeitmusik scene (real-time music), a vibrant community that continually redefines musical boundaries through improvization and experimentation. Following this, Sherryaeri presents a genre-fluid DJ set primarily featuring music by artists they feel are rarely heard and who should be in the spotlight more often.
Free entry
HKW hosts
Let Me Tell You About My World
Children’s Literature Festival
Sat., 19 September, 12:00–19:00
What happens when children don’t just listen to stories, but step into them, change them, and continue telling them? Together with ZULA Tribe, Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) dedicates a day to stories that move through spaces and among people. A story might spark a reading, it could find a quiet home in the pop-up library, or perhaps take an unexpected turn in the comic workshop.
Free entry
L is for the Way You Look at Me II
Workshop, Keynote, Performances
Sun, 20 September, 14:30–21:15
Comprising seasonal gatherings with workshops, lectures, performances and other convivial events, the discursive programme L is for the Way You Look at Me explores the reimagination and re-enactment of love through inquiries about life and being alive. Departing from its first edition, which looked at love and intimacy through the invisible entanglement of microbial interactions, the 2026 edition continues to explore love by bringing the senses and sensibilities to the corporeal—larger bodies woven by microorganisms. This emphasis on the corporeal as porous, transformative, and multispecies put forward an understanding of the self as a complex landscape, interwoven with other bodies, feelings, stories, and beats.
With: Energy Waving, Samah Hijawi, Olga Kozmanidze & Pascal Staudt, Shigehisa Kuriyama, Cristina Flores Pescorán, Jiyoung Yoon, and others
Discourse. Pop. Love
Max Czollek in Conversation with Daniel Eliasson and Derviş Hızarcı
Tue., 29 September, 19:00
In light of the climate crisis, authoritarian tendencies, hostility, and militarism, Max Czollek explores the power of friendship in his discussion series Discourse. Pop. Love. For each date, he invites two guests who are connected by their friendship, collaborate, or support each other’s work. He discusses with them the importance of community in political and artistic work.
With: Daniel Eliasson and Derviş Hızarcı
Tickets on hkw.de/en/tickets
Contact
Maxie Fischer
Head of Press and Communications
Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW)
John-Foster-Dulles-Allee 10
10557 Berlin
T: + 49 (0) 30 397 87 157
presse@hkw.de