Tuvalu Pavilion Returns to Venice Biennale with Vincent J.F. Huang

Tuvalu, the smallest Commonwealth member and the only Pacific island nation with a pavilion at the Venice Biennale, will participate for the third consecutive edition in 2017. The pavilion, titled "Viva Arte Viva," will feature Taiwanese artist and activist Vincent J.F. Huang, who also represented Tuvalu in 2013 and 2015. Curator Aida Yuen Wong replaces previous curators. Huang's project is a "social sculpture"—an interactive international platform addressing the global climate crisis. The theme echoes his 2015 installation "Crossing the Tide" at the Arsenale, where visitors walked on wooden bridges partially submerged in water, evoking Venice's acqua alta and Tuvalu's vulnerability to rising sea levels. Tuvalu, with 26 square kilometers and fewer than 10,000 inhabitants, risks being the first nation submerged by tides, according to the UN International Congress on Climate Change. The 2013 debut was at Forte Marghera.