Taipei Biennial 2025 to Highlight a Universal Yearning
Curators Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath will draw on three iconic literary objects from Taiwan to reflect on belonging and displacement. Save to My Ocula
Taipei Biennial‘s 14th edition will delve into the notion of a yearning rooted in Taiwan’s history of colonial rule, shifting identities, and political transformation.
Under the name Whispers on the Horizon, 54 artists from 35 cities will feature, including Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum, Korakrit Arunanondchai, Afra Al Dhaheri, Musquiqui Chihying, Isaac Chong Wai, Yu Ji, and Sung Tieu,
The biennial will highlight mid-career artists, with nearly half born after 1984.
Contemporary works will interact with early 20th-century paintings from the Taipei Fine Arts Museum and artefacts from the National Palace Museum, offering a dialogue on the theme of yearning.
The three objects framed by the exhibition include a puppet from Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s iconic new wave film, which tells the story of a puppet master during Japanese colonial rule; a diary from Chen Yingzhen’s novel, offering the reflections of a political prisoner of the totalitarian era; and a bicycle from Wu Ming-Yi’s historical novel, which takes viewers on an unexpected journey through time and space, tracing Taiwan’s colonial past and its connections to Japan’s wartime activities in Southeast Asia.
The exhibition will run from 1 November 2025 to 29 March 2026. —[O]
Main image: Yao-Yi Wang, Co-Production (video still, detail). Courtesy the artist.
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