Pivô Launches Podcast on Atlantic Threads, a Project Featuring Artists from Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, and Benin

On Monday, June 16, Pivô launches the first episode of the Atlantic Threads podcast, an outcome of the namesake project that brought together artists from Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, and Benin for a residency as part of the Institut français x Cité internationale des arts program, in Paris, France. Participating artists include Gabriela de Matos (Minas Gerais/Brazil), Tiganá Santana (Bahia/Brazil), Anne-Lise Agossa (Abidjan/Côte d’Ivoire), Olufèmi Hinson Yovo (Cotonou/Benin), and Olivier Marboeuf (Guadeloupe/France), with curatorship by Cindy Sissokho.

The episodes will be released on the following Mondays in June — the 16th, 23rd, and 30th. The conversations, recorded in English, will be available on Spotify with the original audio, and here on the website, with the option of automatically translated subtitles. The availability of subtitles in different languages is part of an initiative to broaden access for speakers of various languages, while also supporting people with hearing impairments and other accessibility needs.

The podcast was recorded during public conversations with the resident artists, held in March at the Salle Commune of the Cité internationale des arts in Paris, moderated by Cindy Sissokho and Olivier Marboeuf, who also leads the online radio station R2. Atlantic Threads is a project in partnership with the African Artists’ Foundation and the Cité internationale des arts, aimed at promoting artistic and cultural exchange between contexts shaped by colonial legacies and power imbalances. It also seeks to foster the creation and strengthening of cultural and social ties between Salvador and African and European countries connected by the Atlantic coast.

In the first episode, Gabriela de Matos and Olufèmi Hinson, both architects, share their perspectives and experiences as two Black women in different contexts. They explore African and Afro-diasporic heritage in architecture, emphasizing the role of the body and informal practices in urban spaces as ways to shape new approaches and models for thinking, building, and sharing the city. The conversation is mediated by curator and cultural theorist Olivier Marboeuf.

The second episode features Tiganá Santana — professor at the Institute of Brazilian Studies at the University of São Paulo (IEB-USP), translator, and multidisciplinary artist — in conversation with Olivier Marboeuf. The artist from Bahia reflects on presence, transmission, and the ethics of Afro-Brazilian cultural space, navigating between visible and invisible relationships.

On June 30, the third episode will air, featuring a conversation between researcher Cindy Sissokho and designer Anne-Lise Agossa. In this dialogue, Anne-Lise discusses her interest in the study of natural forms and the ways in which materials and their transformations carry real and potential narratives.

An extra episode will be released at a later date (to be announced), produced experimentally by Olivier Marboeuf as an audio collage. More details will be shared through Pivô’s main communication channels.

More than just an exhibition or residency project, Atlantic Threads is a proposition — a living, dynamic network that critically interrogates the past while collaborating with the collective imagination of possible futures. The project is supported by the French Embassy in Brazil and the Institut français as part of the France-Brazil Season 2025, which prioritizes dialogue with Africa and envisions long-term continuity and future developments.