Apparitions

WAVA and the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo launch a first-of-its-kind global augmented exhibition—bringing the 36th Bienal’s artworks to site-specific locations worldwide.

Currently, Apparitions by Maxwell Alexandre, Akinbode Akinbiyi, Michele Ciacciofera, Adama Delphine Fawundu, Cevdet Erek, Theo Eshetu, Ruth Ige, Andrew Roberts, Juliana dos Santos, Ming Smith, Vilanismo, Cici Wu with Yuan Yuan, can be encountered in Auckland, Badagry, Beijing, Brasilia, Dakar, Giza, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Kinshasa, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Tijuana / San Diego (on the border), and across São Paulo, with more artists and locations to follow in the coming months.

These virtual counterparts—extensions, echoes, or fragments—emerge around the world, appearing context-specifically through geolocalized positioning. They are accessible exclusively on-site via the WAVA app, free for iOS and Android. From plazas to piers, courtyards to coastlines, Apparitions invites viewers to experience works from the Bienal within their own environments and contexts.

Virtual site-specificity
Building on the Bienal’s long tradition of reaching beyond local borders, Apparitions expands artworks into diverse sites chosen by the artists themselves as well as throughout Ibirapuera Park, surrounding the Bienal’s iconic pavilion. Asking, “If you could choose anywhere in the world, where would you like your work to appear?” the project extends each work to places of personal or contextual resonance.

Through this open approach, Apparitions reframes what it means to think globally while acting locally. Each artwork speaks directly to local histories, communities, and urgencies, while together they compose a distributed exhibition expansion that reimagines global relations and the potential of technological tools in cultural discourse.

For many, international exhibitions remain out of reach. Apparitions proposes another path: rather than flying artworks to audiences, it allows them to materialize where meaning already resides. Public spaces become hybrid points of encounter, inviting participation in the Bienal without the need to travel to Brazil.

Proposal for expanded exhibition making
Beginning with the Bienal’s opening in September, new apparitions will be released throughout the exhibition’s duration. These works—ranging from virtual sculptures to video and sound installations—transform everyday settings into stages of encounter. Each site becomes charged with the hybrid presence of the artworks, and each viewer an active participant in an exhibition expanding across spaces and time zones.

Under the curatorial direction of Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, the 2025 Bienal de São Paulo asks: What does it mean to practice humanity? Apparitions offers one possible response, rooted in connectivity and specificity.

What is WAVA?
WAVA (gGmbH) is a nonprofit, app-based platform that uses GPS and Augmented Reality to bring digital artworks to specific real-world locations without the need for physical infrastructure. Developed in Frankfurt am Main since 2020 by a group of artists and curators, it was formally established as a nonprofit in 2024 by Florian Adolph, David H. Bachmann, and Ben Livne Weitzman.

WAVA seeks to democratize augmented spaces, enabling artists, institutions, and audiences to present and encounter art virtually in situ without logistical barriers or permission processes. Each exhibition contributes to the sustainability of the platform’s shared infrastructure, making it increasingly accessible and community-driven.

The WAVA app is free to download via the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android). 

For more information, visit www.wava.ar.

About the 36th Bienal de São Paulo
With a concept created by Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, alongside co-curators Alya Sebti, Anna Roberta Goetz, and Thiago de Paula Souza, co-curator at large Keyna Eleison, and communications and strategy consultant Henriette Gallus, as well as adjunct cocurators André Pitol and Leonardo Matsuhei, the 36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice is inspired by the poem “Da calma e do silêncio” [Of Calm and Silence], by poet Conceição Evaristo, and has as one of its main foundations the active listening of humanity as a practice in constant displacement, encounter, and negotiation. In all, this year's edition brings together 120 positions at the Bienal Pavilion and another five at Casa do Povo until January 11, 2026.

Apparitions is generously supported by the Aventis Foundation and the Crespo Foundation.