Exhibition Introduction
Artist: Wong Weng Cheong
Curator: Chang Chan
Venue: Istituto Santa Maria della Pietà, Castello 3701, Venice, Italy
Opening period: 20/4/2024 – 24/11/2024
Opening hours:
Summer (20/4 – 30/9): 11 am - 7 pm, last admission 6.45 pm
Autumn (1/10 – 24/11): 10 am - 6 pm, last admission 5.45 pm
Closed on Mondays (except 22/04, 17/06, 22/07, 02/09, 30/09, 18/11)
Free admission
Organised by the Macao Museum of Art under the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, Above Zobeide, Exhibition from Macao, China will be presented as a Collateral Event of the 60th International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia from 20th April to 24th November 2024, in Venice, Italy. Curated by Chang Chan, the exhibition features large-scale art installations and digital prints created by the young Macao artist Wong Weng Cheong.
The work draws inspiration from the Italian writer Italo Calvino’s Invisible Cities, in which the fictional city Zobeide is mentioned. The story revolves around men of various nations driven by an identical dream to build a city of desire.
In the process of globalisation, the construction of large-scale cities driven by desires is a common phenomenon. The prevalence of an insatiably materialistic society has become a reality in our contemporary world.
Wong Weng Cheong delves into the exploration of the hidden crisis of mutation. The exhibition Above Zobeide presents a fictional world – a wilderness above the ruins of a city – inhabited solely by a group of herbivores with elongated legs. Through the juxtaposition of civilisation and mutation, the artist conveys a pervasive anxiety about the apocalypse, prompting viewers to contemplate the intricate relationship between humans and the environment, as well as the increasing displacement of physical and spiritual aspects of human beings.
Upon entering the exhibition, each visitor, as an ‘outsider’ of this strange space, becomes a part of the artwork through being captured by cameras within the installation. The work, which blurs the lines between reality and fiction, invites viewers to contemplate their role in this story.