In the blink of an eye, another two years have passed. This 11th Biennale actually opened in 2016, but I didn’t visit until 2017, just a week before it closed—managing to catch the tail end of this edition.
The theme of this Biennale is “Why Not Ask Again?” The official description is as follows:
“Why not ask again? Why not start questioning from the origin, endpoint, or midpoint of a question or desire (since the task of ‘asking’ is both to pose questions and to evoke desires)?”
—This text was written by the Raqs Media Collective, inspired by the work Jukti, Takko aar Gappo (1974) by Ritwik Ghatak, a pioneer of the Indian New Cinema movement. It anchors the curatorial concept of this Shanghai Biennale.
In Raqs’s vision, the artists featured as protagonists in this Shanghai Biennale are like characters in a fable, casting out various enigmas and motives, posing necessary, difficult, and moving questions, thereby transforming the very stories they inhabit.
“Jukti, Takko aar Gappo” (Reason, Debate, and Story)—these three elements resemble the “Three-Body Problem” in physics.
Inspired by this, the current Biennale aspires to:
- Be filled with organic surprises inherent in fables and stories, unfolding questions and debates in novel and engaging ways.
- Construct an alternative, non-dogmatic matrix of links between images, viewpoints, and expressions, as well as between art, literature, and philosophy.
- Transcend and question conventional artistic and discursive perspectives that categorize the world.
This exhibition will be realized through a series of intersecting trajectories: “Terminals,” “Infra-Curatorial Platform,” “Theory Opera,” and “51 Personae.”
“Terminals”: Transit stations, launchpads, and linking hubs. Here, artists are invited to engage in practices that expand into constellations of questions, propositions, and narratives through continuously consolidating and evolving artistic creation.
“Infra-Curatorial Platform”: Exploring various vantage points for curation, triggering new questions from these positions: regarding networks and knowledge, archives, highlighted imagery, and how the new generation can think independently about curation.
“Theory Opera”: Orchestrating modes of thinking and speculation across different scales, interweaving philosophical depth with operatic rhythm in its vocalization.
“51 Personae”: A project composed of a series of exciting actions, serving as a celebration of Shanghai, as well as of life, dreams, friendship, and conversation. It is a visionary proposition, and even more so, a reimagining of urban life ignited by energies of demonstration, solidarity, and debate.
The exhibition was still held at the Power Station of Art, occupying a massive three-floor space, and tickets remained only 20 RMB, making it incredibly good value. The use of LEDs and other smart devices made the installations in this Biennale much more interesting than in previous years. However, the downside is that photos simply cannot convey what they are really like… So I’ve tried my best to select some images that at least look aesthetically pleasing…
A physical 21Cake coffee shop recently opened on the first floor. I went to check it out, but the black-and-white chocolate mousse was sold out. Surprisingly, when I wandered up to the fifth-floor terrace, I found a small counter of theirs where you could get a free ice cream by scanning a QR code—I grabbed one without hesitation~~~ It tasted pretty good.
Photos in this post taken with SONY A5100 + 16-50 f3.5-5.6, post-processed in Lightroom.
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