Brazilian Curators Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca to Lead the 2027 Bienal de São Paulo
The Fundação Bienal de São Paulo has named Amanda Carneiro and Raphael Fonseca as chief curators of the 2027 Bienal de São Paulo, placing two Brazilian voices at the center of Latin America’s largest and longest-running visual arts event. The edition is scheduled for the Pavilhão Ciccillo Matarazzo in Ibirapuera Park, with the curatorial team, concept, and exhibition dates to be announced in the coming months.
The appointment marks a notable return to a Brazilian-led framework after the 2025 biennial, curated by Cameroonian curator Bonaventure Soh Bejeng Ndikung under the title “Not All Travellers Walk Roads – Of Humanity as Practice.” That edition foregrounded Africa and its diasporas, but included comparatively few Brazilian artists and, more broadly, a limited Latin American presence. Argentina, for instance, had no artists in the exhibition for the first time in the biennial’s history.
Carneiro has been a curator at the Museu de Arte de São Paulo (MASP) since 2018. She also served as artistic organizer of the main exhibition at the 2024 Venice Biennale, “Stranieri Ovunque – Foreigners Everywhere,” curated by her MASP colleague Adriano Pedrosa. Before MASP, she worked at the Museu Afro Brasil Emanoel Araujo in São Paulo.
Fonseca, who was born in Rio de Janeiro and is based in Lisbon, works at Culturgest and serves as curator-at-large for Latin American modern and contemporary art at the Denver Art Museum. He is also curating the Taiwan Pavilion at the 61st Biennale di Venezia, which opens next month. In 2025, he was chief curator of the 14th Bienal do Mercosul, and from 2016 to 2020 he worked at the Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói.
Andrea Pinheiro, president of the Fundação Bienal de São Paulo, said the choice reflected a deliberate selection process and confidence in a generation of Brazilian curators with the experience to keep the biennial at the center of contemporary art debate. Carneiro called the appointment an honor and described the biennial as “one of the most important platforms for contemporary art.” Fonseca said the role exceeded his expectations, especially because he will work alongside Carneiro, whom he described as both a frequent collaborator and a friend.
Founded in 1951 and initially modeled on the Venice Biennale’s national pavilion structure, the Bienal de São Paulo has gradually moved toward curatorially driven formats. The new appointment continues that evolution while signaling a renewed emphasis on Brazilian curatorial leadership at a moment when the biennial remains one of the region’s most closely watched exhibitions.
