Venice tower transformed into 'cosmic dreamscape' by Wallace Chan's 'Mythos' installation

Wallace Chan’s “Mythos” is installed at Scala Contarini del Bovolo in Venice through Oct. 18, placing titanium sculptures and sound works inside one of the city’s best-known spiral towers during the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. The Hong Kong-based artist’s project opened on April 4 and was curated by James Putnam, according to the venue and exhibition materials. The work sits alongside Chan’s second Venice presentation, “Vessels of Other Worlds,” which opened on May 8 at the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pietà. “Mythos” uses the tower and adjoining palace rooms as both setting and subject. The exhibition materials describe a series of titanium sculptures on the first floor of the Bovolo Tower and inside the palazzo, accompanied by two soundscapes. Korea Herald, which visited the show in Venice, reported that the installation turns the historic site into a meditation on mythology, astronomy and technology. (gioiellinascostidivenezia.it) ### Why is this tower central to the installation? Scala Contarini del Bovolo is tied directly to the exhibition’s astronomy theme. The venue says German astronomer Wilhelm Tempel discovered a comet and nebula there in 1859, using a telescope purchased in Venice, and curator James Putnam told Korea Herald that the tower had served as an astronomical observation point. Korea Herald also cited Venice’s role in lens production and Galileo’s presentation of an improved telescope to the Doge in 1609. (gioiellinascostidivenezia.it) Venice itself appears in the work as more than a backdrop. The exhibition text says the tower has long been regarded in mythology as a ladder to heaven, a link Chan uses to frame what he called a connected cosmos. “Everything is unrelated, yet everything is connected,” the venue quotes him as saying. ### What exactly does Chan place inside the tower? (gioiellinascostidivenezia.it) Three hanging titanium sculptures in the tower draw on Jacopo Tintoretto’s 16th-century painting “The Three Graces and Mercury” in the Doge’s Palace, according to the venue and Korea Herald. The exhibition text says Chan renders the Graces as three abstract faces that appear to pursue one another, while Mercury is reworked as a planet-like sphere rather than a human figure. (gioiellinascostidivenezia.it) The palace rooms extend that visual program. The venue says additional hanging sculptures on the second floor respond to Tintoretto’s “Paradise,” and a separate room contains an iron-and-titanium sculpture with a quartz crystal surrounded by four directional speakers. Visitors hear Chan’s narrated monologue only when standing beneath each speaker, while the rest of the space remains quiet. (gioiellinascostidivenezia.it) ### How do mythology and astronomy meet in the work? Wallace Chan told Korea Herald on May 7 that Greek myths were a direct source for the installation and that the rotating forms were meant to evoke planetary motion. “They are also in a spinning motion, just as the universe spins and the planets revolve,” he said. The venue description similarly says the show explores the relationship between mythology and astronomy across Eastern and Western traditions. (gioiellinascostidivenezia.it) Sound is part of that structure. The venue says one soundscape uses recordings of titanium being hammered and polished in Chan’s workshop, which it links to the Biennale’s 2026 curatorial theme, “In Minor Keys.” Korea Herald described the overall installation as blending mythology, astronomy and titanium into a broader meditation on humanity in the age of artificial intelligence. (koreaherald.com) ### How does “Mythos” connect to Chan’s second Venice show? ArtAsiaPacific reported on May 16 that Chan is presenting two concurrent exhibitions in Venice this year: “Mythos” at Scala Contarini del Bovolo and “Vessels of Other Worlds” at the Pietà Chapel. The April 15 press release for the second project says “Vessels of Other Worlds” opened on May 8 in Venice and will travel in parallel to the Long Museum in Shanghai on July 18. (gioiellinascostidivenezia.it) The Venice Art Factory listing says both Venice presentations run until Oct. 18. At Scala Contarini del Bovolo, admission is included with a tower ticket, while the Pietà Chapel exhibition is listed as free. The Shanghai opening at the Long Museum on July 18 is the next dated milestone in the wider project. (veniceartfactory.org) (artasiapacific.com)