The Dream Brook Flows into Venice | 

At the 61st Venice Biennale, Witnessing the Present and Future of Chinese Art

On May 8, 2026, the China Pavilion at the 61st Venice International Art Biennale officially opened. The exhibition will run until November 22, organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and curated by the China Academy of Art.

What is "Dream Brook"? From Shen Kuo to Venice

The China Pavilion takes "Dream Brook" (Mengxi) as its theme, inspired by Dream Pool Essays (Mengxi Bitan) written by Shen Kuo of the Northern Song Dynasty. Hailed by British historian of science Joseph Needham as "a milestone in the history of Chinese science and technology," this work is itself a dialogue between the humanities and science — recording astronomy and geography alongside metallurgical techniques and artistic insights, and celebrated as "China's earliest encyclopedia."

Yu Xuhong, curator and President of the China Academy of Art, breaks down the meaning of "Dream Brook" into three dimensions:

First: A cross-cultural resonance with the Biennale's overall theme, "Minor Keys." At a time when the global art world emphasizes grand narratives, "Minor Keys" advocates introspective listening and subtle perception — and "Dream Brook" is precisely a work of quiet recollection by Shen Kuo in his later years, reclaiming the authentic rhythm of life and art in a noisy era.

Second: A thousand-year dialogue between Hangzhou and Venice. Shen Kuo was from Hangzhou, and more than 200 years later, Marco Polo set out from Venice, carrying observations of the East back to Europe along the Silk Road. Two water cities, echoing each other across history.

Third: Finding balance between technology and tradition. As AI reshapes artistic creation at unprecedented speed, "Dream Brook" neither blindly chases technology nor stubbornly clings to tradition — instead, it opens a path of Eastern poetry where past and present converge, within the tension between the two.

Ten Works, A Contemporary Eastern Aesthetic Scene

Inside the China Pavilion, ten exhibits unfold around the themes of "tradition renewed, art and science integrated."

Xu Jiang, Symbiosis — Over a thousand bronze sunflowers and lotuses intertwine in symbiosis, rooted in Venetian sea sand. The drought-loving sunflowers and water-loving lotuses transcend their own attributes, merging into one. Using the principle of camera obscura, the work creates reflections connected to the water surface within the pavilion, layering and reflecting in the sunlight, endlessly regenerating.

Wang Dongling, Free and Easy Wandering + Calligraphy Robot — A massive 6.5m × 16m cursive calligraphy work occupies an entire wall, its brushstrokes surging like ten thousand galloping horses. Nearby, a calligraphy robot — a joint development between the China Academy of Art and an enterprise — dips its mechanical arm in ink and precisely imitates Wang Dongling's brushwork, neatly writing the two characters "Mengxi," drawing crowds who line up to try it.

Black Myth: Wukong — Game Science presents the Destined One sculpture, hand-drawn original artwork, and animated short films. Curator Yu Xuhong notes that games allow global players to "live" inside Chinese stories, making them an effective medium for telling China's story. When the cultural symbol of Sun Wukong appears in Venice, it is itself a successful act of cultural export.

Light of Liangzhu — Created with the participation of the Zhejiang Lab. The carved symbols left by the Liangzhu ancients intertwine on a giant screen with photoelectronic tracks collected in orbit by the "Three-Body Computing Constellation" space probe. Five thousand years ago, humans looked up at the stars and carved symbols; today, satellites traverse the heavens and transmit data back — ancient and modern resonating on the same frequency, deeply moving.

Voices from All Sides: A Contemporary Footnote to Sino-Italian Cultural Exchange

Since its opening, the China Pavilion has received widespread attention and praise.

Italian Deputy Prime Minister Salvini made a special visit and remarked after touring: "Truly splendid — it reflects both China's history and culture, and China's future."

Venice Biennale President Buttafuoco commented: "The China Pavilion adds a new footnote to Italy-China cultural exchange."

Lu Yingchuan, Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism of China, speaking at a related forum, stated that the China Pavilion, through "Dream Brook," explores pathways for the contemporary transformation of traditional culture within a globalized context, offering new ideas for cross-cultural dialogue in contemporary art.

Final Thoughts: A Dialogue Without Walls

From Shen Kuo's Dream Pool Essays to AI calligraphy, from Liangzhu carved symbols to satellite data imagery, the China Pavilion weaves ancient wisdom, contemporary creation, and digital futures into a "stream" stretching across a thousand years.

It flows to Venice, to the world, and to every viewer standing before the works.

This is not a one-way output but an open dialogue — about how tradition can be activated, how technology can be used poetically, and how Chinese art resonates with the world today.

The exhibition will run until November 22, 2026. If you are interested in the Venice Biennale, please contact us at the Italian Innovation Center for more visiting information.