The exhibition “Jacone’s Polyphony”, as one of the Collateral Event of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, will be inaugurated in Venice, Italy on 8 May.
The exhibition is organised by the SAR’s Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) and implemented by the Macao Museum of Art (MAM).
Curated by Feng Yan and Ng Sio Ieng, the exhibition showcases installations, painting and video works created by Macau artists Eric Fok Hoi Seng, O Chi Wai and Veronica Lei Fong Ieng (artwork pictured), reinterpreting the creative trajectory and spiritual exploration of Wu Li – a painter from the early Qing dynasty, poet and Catholic – across the East and the West, from a polyphonic narrative structure.
The exhibition aims to explore the resonance of culture, faith and spirit in the context of globalisation, echoing the theme of this year’s Biennale “In Minor Keys”, according to IC.
In 1681, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi, Wu Li travelled south to Macau, though he was intending to carry out missionary works in Rome, but the journey never took place.
He resided in Macau to study theology, where he recorded the city’s unique landscape, featuring the integration of Chinese and Western cultures at that time in his poetry album “Sanba Ji” (“Poems from St. Paul’s”).
Inspired by the cross-disciplinary cultural pioneer, the exhibition is divided into four indoor halls which are connected with an outdoor space, forming a loop that runs through the past and the present, narrating Wu Li’s unfinished European journey through contemporary art.
By excavating fragments of the past, the exhibition traces Macau’s cultural roots, highlights cultural inclusiveness and innovation, and presents the city’s unique multicultural heritage and vitality, according to IC.
The exhibition “Jacone’s Polyphony” marks the 10th time Macau is participating in the Venice Biennale. The exhibition will be held at Arsenale, Campo della Tana, Castello 2126/A, 30122, Venice, Italy from 9 May to 22 November 2026. Admission is free. For more information visit MAM’s website.
Source and Image: IC
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