Wallace Chan’s Vessels of Other Worlds and Mythos Connects Venice and Shanghai
The artist’s dual-site exhibition premieres at the 61st Venice Biennale and at the Shanghai’s Long Museum in July
To witness Hong Kong artist Wallace Chan maintain his serene presence in the midst of the cacophony of the Venice Biennale festivities reveals a master class in focus. His time as a Buddhist monk informs both his quiet demeanor and boundless energy. To celebrate his 70 years on the planet, new parallel exhibitions in Venice and Shanghai explore to make connections across the globe. “Vessels of Other Worlds” and “Mythos” open this week in two sites at the Venice Biennale with views of the installation progress at the Long Museum in Shanghai that will debut in July.
Imagining Chan feasting on pasta in Italy’s floating city would be far from the reality: “I do not have much time to think about food during the Biennale,” admits Chan, but he always makes time to see art. “I always love a good exhibition, wherever it is. So this year, I made time to visit Palazzo Grassi before the Biennale chaos begins.” Working in both countries over the years, Chan sees a connection in Italy and China’s histories both have strong craft traditions, and a deep respect for beauty and symbolism. “I also think both cultures understand the value of time,” says Chan. “Whether in architecture, painting, sculpture or craftsmanship, there is a respect for patience, discipline and refinement.”
The exhibition curator, James Putnam, admits that two simultaneous site-specific installations in Venice might feel like an overwhelming commission for another artist, but with Chan’s serene presence, diligence and energy he calmly completed the works “Mythos” at the Palazzo Contarini del Bovolo and “Vessels of Other Worlds” at the Chapel of Santa Maria della Pieta.
Putnam describes his attraction to Chan’s work. “It conveys an enigmatic other worldly quality, an aura that he himself seems to emanate,” says Putnam. “I am particularly drawn to his work because it seems to have a similar timeless monumentality that I found comparable to the ancient Egyptian sculpture that I’d previously studied at the British Museum, a similar sense of mystical presence.”
In the case of creating this new work to be in Venice and Shanghai, Chan explains how Venice inspires the works. “With Vessels of Other Worlds, I encountered the carving of three oil vessels on a stone in a Catholic church in Venice, and it sparked my curiosity,” says Chan. “I soon understood that the oil vessel is a universal symbol, one that recurs across cultures and religions, in churches and temples alike.” From that moment came the idea of transforming this iconography into monumental sculptures filtered through his own belief system. Known for his rigorous detailed jewelry designs in titanium, Chan magnifies a mind-boggling level of precision that he brings to his sculptural works of varying sizes.
The Pieta Chapel serves as a fitting setting with the exhibition with many of the new works inspired by sacred oils used in Catholic rituals. To capture the movement of the oils, Chan manipulates the shapes of the titanium to look like dripping liquid. “This is the real challenge, because titanium does not want to move,” says Chan. “It is strong, stubborn and resistant. So, I had to create forms that could make a hard metal feel as though it were flowing like oil, or like water droplets. The sacred oils carry blessing, healing and transformation, and I wanted the sculptures to carry that same sense of passage.”
Since the massive scale of the sculptures in Shanghai would not fit in the Pieta Chapel, Chan developed smaller versions for Venice accompanied by a live transmission of the altar showing the sculptures at full scale. He had cameras installed facing the sculptures at each site. The screens act as portals to each other. In this way, the exhibition in Venice and the presentation at the Long Museum in Shanghai remain in dialogue with each other.
Putnam and Chan have been planning this exhibition for two years. “We decided to use the Pieta Chapel and have live footage from the Long Museum in China of the three full-size vessels which provided a fascinating element to the exhibition concept,” says Putnam. “We also have the concurrent exhibition, “Mythos” at the Bovolo Tower which relates to astronomy, mythology and the Venetian painter Tintoretto.”
“I am particularly keen to develop site-specific projects that embrace both historic and contemporary art,” says Putnam. “I feel the juxtaposition of old and new gives them a particular quality where the ancient and contemporary seem to ‘energize’ each other. Venice is such a unique place steeped in history, and the quality of light and reflections in the water are all very relevant to how the art works are perceived. Mr. Chan’s use of titanium for his vessels, a very futuristic, ‘space-age material,’ also helps to give his sculptures an otherworldly, almost sci-fi, quality.”
As Chan celebrates his 70th birthday year, his energy appears to be climbing to even higher levels of productivity. “I feel as though years of work are falling into place,” he says. “The stars are aligned. It is an incredible feeling. The race against time is intense, but also deeply satisfying. It feels like a long journey coming together.”
“Vessels of Other Worlds” and “Mythos” will be on view in Venice until 18 October 18, 2026. “Vessels” will open at the Long Museum in Shanghai from 18 July to 26 October, 2026.
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