South China Morning Post: Asian artists at Venice

South China Morning Post reported on May 20 that many Asian artists at the 2026 Venice Biennale are working through history, personal memory and inherited identity, using forms that range from baby dolls to video installations and tapestries. The paper said the pattern reflects the Biennale’s official curatorial framework, “In Minor Keys,” which called attention to contemplative and alternative voices from the Global South. (scmp.com) That framing was devised by the late curator Koyo Kouoh and carried forward by the exhibition team after her death. The 61st Venice Biennale opened to the public on May 9 and runs through November 22 in Venice. ### Why are so many artists working through memory and history this year? Koyo Kouoh’s 2026 Biennale theme, “In Minor Keys,” was presented as a show centered on artists from the Global South and on quieter, less dominant registers of experience. (theartnewspaper.com) The Art Newspaper reported that the main exhibition includes 111 artists and artist collectives, many from the Global South, and quoted the curatorial team as saying the project was not organized as a direct commentary on current events but as a different kind of relation between art and society. SCMP said that framework has pushed many Asian artists to “draw from, come to terms with, and reveal personal perspectives within history.” In the paper’s account, the result is not one regional style but a recurring method: intimate storytelling used to address war legacies, migration, parenthood, aging and political erasure. (scmp.com) ### Which pavilion best captures that approach? Ei Arakawa-Nash’s Japan Pavilion is one of SCMP’s clearest examples. The artist’s installation, “Grass Babies, Moon Babies,” asks visitors to carry baby dolls weighted like newborns and change their nappies to reveal QR codes that generate poems by astrologist Ishii Yukari. Each poem corresponds to one of 57 historical events that Arakawa-Nash says shaped their worldview and that they want to pass on to their children. (theartnewspaper.com) SCMP said Arakawa-Nash links that structure to a queer, diasporic perspective and to recent experience as a parent of twins. The article noted that the July 1, 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China is one of the dates included in the installation’s constellation of war, emancipation and immigration histories. (scmp.com) ### How are artists handling political history without making conventional political art? Natasha Tontey’s Venice project offers one answer. SCMP reported on May 18 that the Indonesian artist’s multi-panel video installation centers on Len Karamoy, a Minahasan figure in the CIA-backed Permesta rebellion that fought the Indonesian government from 1958 to 1961. Tontey told SCMP that Karamoy stands for forgotten women in history who were betrayed or treated unjustly. (scmp.com) SCMP wrote that Tontey described Karamoy as representing the “quieter tones of history,” even as the work itself uses horror and Western-film imagery. That combination fits the broader Biennale pattern the paper identified: historical reckoning delivered through personal, symbolic or nonlinear narrative rather than through a documentary register. (scmp.com) ### Where does the quieter, contemplative side show up most clearly? Amanda Heng’s Singapore Pavilion turns that curatorial language into a literal spatial proposition. The Singapore Art Museum said Heng’s project, “A Pause,” transforms the Sale d’Armi into a place for rest and observation, built around photographs, video and an architectural intervention focused on sitting, waiting and watching. (scmp.com) The museum said the work draws on Heng’s four-decade practice and on lived memory expressed through everyday gestures. Hong Kong’s collateral exhibition, “Fermata,” takes a related approach. SCMP reported on May 11 that Kingsley Ng created a padded rest lounge with field recordings of Hong Kong night workers, while Angel Hui used a suspended window frame to suggest affinities between Venice and Hong Kong. (scmp.com) SCMP said the works echoed Kouoh’s call to slow down and hear ignored voices. ### What should readers watch next? The Venice Biennale’s public exhibition period runs until November 22, 2026, with the main exhibition, national pavilions and collateral shows continuing across Venice. Singapore Art Museum said further details on the curatorial concept behind Amanda Heng’s pavilion will be released later, while SCMP’s Venice coverage has continued to track individual Asian artists and exhibitions after the May 9 opening. (singaporeartmuseum.sg) (theartnewspaper.com) (scmp.com)