Kitty Scott Named Chief Curator of 15th Shanghai Biennale
Opening in November next year, Scott's exhibition will pose the question, 'does the flower hear the bee?'
KItty Scott. Courtesy Shanghai Biennale.
The Office of the Shanghai Biennale yesterday announced Kitty Scott the Chief Curator of the 15th Shanghai Biennale, which will run from 8 November 2025 to 31 March 2026.
Born in Newfoundland, Canada, Scott is the Strategic Director at Shorefast and Fogo Island Arts. Among her previous roles, she was Deputy Director and Chief Curator of the National Gallery of Canada and Chief Curator at Serpentine Gallery. She co-curated the 2018 Liverpool Biennial and presented Geoffrey's Farmer's Canada Pavilion at the 57th Venice Biennale the same year.
She has curated exhibitions of artists such as Francis Alÿs, Paul Chan, Peter Doig, Geoffrey Farmer, Theaster Gates, Brian Jungen, Ken Lum, Gordon Matta-Clark, Silke Otto-Knapp, and Ron Terada.
Scott's title for the 15th Shanghai Biennale is 'Does the flower hear the bee?'
'We have long known now that when bees gather, they communicate and share knowledge with each other. We are only just recognising that this network of communication extends even further,' Scott said in a statement.
'It turns out that flowers too are gathering information, and we now appreciate that they "hear" the vibration of honey bee wings, which causes them to secrete a sweeter nectar in their presence,' she said.
Similarly, the Biennale will seek to develop new kinds of sensorial communication between artworks, visitors, and their environs. —[O]