Mawali–Taqsim: Improvisation as a Space and Technology of Humanity

The 36th Bienal de São Paulo continues its global journey with its third Invocation, titled Mawali–Taqsim: Improvisation as a Space and Technology of Humanity, which will take place in Zanzibar from February 11th to 13th, 2025. The Invocation will be hosted by Maru Maru Hotel and Golden Tulip Stonetown Boutique, with the Dhow Countries Music Academy (DCMA) as a partner institution.

The program delves into the multifaceted world of Taarab music, exploringimprovisation as a space and technology of humanity. The program is also inspired by the concept of the 36th Bienal de São Paulo, entitled Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice, which draws from Afrobrazilian poet Conceição Evaristo’s poem “Da calma e do silêncio” [Of calm and silence]. Under the curatorial leadership of Prof. Dr. Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung, alongside co-curators Alya Sebti, Anna Roberta Goetz, and Thiago de Paula Souza, co-curator at large Keyna Eleison, and strategy and communications advisor Henriette Gallus, the 36th Bienal explores the idea of humanity as a practice rooted in shared histories and cultural intersections.

The Invocation in Zanzibar focuses on the philosophical and artistic dimensions of Taarab, a genre that epitomizes the island’s cultural hybridity and resonates as a profound medium for expression, sentiment, and resilience. Improvisation, a fundamental part of Taarab music, offers a profound metaphor for human adaptability and interconnectedness. Echoing the complexities of Zanzibar’s history – a crossroads of African, Arabic, Asian, and European influences – the third Invocation offers the possibility of reflecting on nuances and accents of humanity on an island that is a point of intersection of multiple cultures, philosophies, sciences. In the words of Djibril Diop Mambéty, art serves as “the grammar of our grandmothers,” and Taarab embodies this ethos through its eclectic blend of musical instruments, poetic lyrics, and improvisational techniques. Zanzibar’s cultural tapestry, reflected in its language, Swahili, and its emblematic Taarab music, provides the setting for this Invocation.

About the Invocations
In preparation for the 36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not All Travellers Walks Roads – Of Humanity as Practice, and to introduce and tune in to the conceptual thread, a series of public programs called Invocations takes place in four different cities around the world: Marrakech; Guadeloupe; Zanzibar; and Tokyo.

Each edition mirrors the exhibition concept of Humanity as Practice from a specific local context, reconfiguring and expanding it through live events and a publication. The aim of the Invocations is to expand the vocabulary of humanity, at points of intersection between different longitudes and latitudes. If humanity were a verb, how would it be conjugated in these different geographies? The Senegalese director Djibril Diop Mambéty once described film – and therefore art – as “la grammaire de ma grande mère” [my grandmother’s grammar], alluding to the familiarity of art, the intergenerational aspects of artistic practices, the colloquialism of art and art/artistic practice as grammar. The four Invocations will explore how artistic practices around the globe help to situate, enrich and expand these grammars.

Check the program here.

36th Bienal de São Paulo – Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice
Chief curator: Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung / Co-curators: Alya Sebti,Anna Roberta Goetz, Thiago de Paula Souza / Co-curator at large: Keyna Eleison

Invocation #3 – Zanzibar, Tanzania
Mawali–Taqsim: Improvisation as a Space and Technology of Humanity
Feb 11–13, 2025
free admission

Maru Maru Hotel
Tue, 7pm–10pm
Thu, 8:15pm – 9:15pm
Gizenga St, P.O. Box 4053

Golden Tulip Stonetown Boutique
Wed, 10am – 7:45pm
Thu, 10am – 8pm
Malindi Road, P.O. Box 271
Zanzibar, Tanzania

bienal.org.br