Robert Zhao's Singapore Pavilion at Venice Biennale explores human-nature classification

From 20 April to 24 November 2024, Robert Zhao Renhui will showcase his work, Seeing Forest, at the Singapore Pavilion during the 60th Venice Biennale. This exhibition delves into the ways humans classify the natural world. Zhao, whose artistic approach fuses reality with imagination, founded the semifictional Institute of Critical Zoologists in 2008. In his 2017 exhibition, he displayed over 300 items in a former British military building, along with an 80-page dossier linking stories from indigenous cats to the eradication of wildlife during colonial times. His work also reflects Singapore's colonial history and urban development, noting a 22% increase in land reclamation from 1965 to 2015. The Venice exhibit will include a sculptural video crafted from native wood. The National Arts Council commissioned the Singapore Pavilion, with organization by the Singapore Art Museum.