Curator Kitty Scott on Her Vision for the 15th Shanghai Biennale
The 15th Shanghai Biennale will explore new forms of sensory communication between works of art, encouraging dialogue and harmony with other intelligences, from animals to plants. “The works of art give us a special space to do that in an integrated and connected way, to create strong bonds between communities and harmony with the world beyond the human,” said Scott, seeing viewers as flowers, with a wide variety of flowers. life and wisdom around them.
Scott also highlighted Shanghai's unique position as an “urban place defined by the meeting of diverse and sometimes conflicting cultures,” making it an ideal place to explore the many perspectives needed to address the critical challenges facing our society today. The Biennale's artist selection will combine local and global perspectives while focusing specifically on Indigenous artists as bearers of alternative forms of knowledge. He is already working with a primarily local management team, and while much remains to be done, Scott clarified during our interview that the selection process will ensure regional voices are aligned with international ones.
The dialectic tension between art and nature and how handmade objects act as vessels of cultural memory and identity, transcending nationality or politics and connecting people to a shared need for expression, is one of the core themes of the Biennale. Scott extended this idea to modern technology, including AI, which he described as the latest evolution in the progression of human creativity. “All human abilities, no matter how abstract, begin in physical activity and, at a deeper level, in information conveyed by touch and hand movements,” he said. However, the Biennale also aims to challenge the outdated view of human agency in communication, encouraging us to be aware of the “wide network of communication agents that collectively shape the world.”
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In this spirit, the Biennale aims to reconnect us with the old idea of technea far cry from today's digital-visual divide, it's a practice that reinforces the bond between mind and craft—a reminder of the deeply intertwined nature of the human experience. According to Scott, “the visual arts provide insight into the techniques of experience that can shape our interactions with others.”
By focusing on multiculturalism, cross-cultural relationships, and traditional knowledge, Scott envisions a Biennale that, in his words, can “contribute to the great work of the present, to rebuild a culture of transcendence, a culture that is accessible everywhere and to everyone.” In the tradition of intellectuals such as Eduard Glissant and Patrick Chamoiseau, the 15th Shanghai Biennale will explore the idea of humanity in harmony with other forms of intelligence, training viewers to recognize the delicate symphonies on which our existence depends.
The 15th Shanghai Biennale will open on November 8, 2025. More details will be revealed in the following months.