Wallace Chan returns to Venice Biennale with 'Vessels of Other Worlds'

Wallace Chan, the Hong Kong-based artist born in 1956, returns to the Venice Biennale for the fourth time with 'Vessels of Other Worlds', a two-city exhibition opening at the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà in Venice on 8 May 2026 and continuing at the Long Museum West Bund in Shanghai from 18 July, coinciding with his 70th birthday. Curated by James Putnam and fully supported by the Long Museum, the project features large-scale titanium sculptures that explore material transformation, perception, and metaphysical space. Chan, who began carving at 16 and developed his practice outside conventional academic pathways, draws on Chinese traditions and Western sculptural histories. After a spiritual retreat in the early 2000s, he turned to industrial materials like concrete and titanium. His work is held in collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, Museum of Fine Arts Boston, British Museum, Capital Museum Beijing, and Shanghai Museum. At the Pietà Chapel, three titanium vessels symbolizing birth, growth, and rebirth are installed, with a live video link to Shanghai via a triptych of screens. At the Long Museum, the sculpture 'Growth' becomes an inhabitable mirrored structure extending Chan's Wallace Cut technique. The exhibition follows his earlier Venice presentations: 'Titans' (2021), 'Totem' (2022), and 'Transcendence' (2024).