Speech by SCST at opening reception of "Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice" Collateral Event of 61st International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia (Venice Biennale) (English only)
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Mr Li (Charge d'Affaires ad interim at the Chinese Embassy in Italy, Mr Li Xiaoyong), Dr Ambrosetti (Ambassador of Italy to the People's Republic of China, Dr Massimo Ambrosetti), Kenneth (Chairman of the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, Mr Kenneth Fok), Kingsley (exhibition artist Kingsley Ng), Angel (exhibition artist Angel Hui), our exhibition artists, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen,
Welcome, everyone, to the opening ceremony of Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice, a Collateral Event of the 61st Venice Biennale.
I am most delighted to be with you in this magnificent city - Venice, where art is not merely displayed, but is lived and breathed.
Founded in 1895, Venice Biennale is the world's oldest international art exhibition. For more than 130 years, this prestigious event has drawn art lovers from every corner of the globe. Hong Kong has been proud to participate as a Collateral Event since 2001 - one of our flagship overseas art programmes, supported by the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government. Over the past 25 years, this platform not only showcased the excellence of our artists, but has also become a vital channel for sharing Hong Kong's rich stories with the world.
This year marks the beginning of our country's 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development. In alignment with this national direction, Hong Kong is committed to fostering greater art and cultural exchanges between the Chinese Mainland and countries around the world. It is in this light that our participation in the Venice Biennale carries special significance.
This year's Hong Kong Exhibition is also different from what audiences may have seen in previous editions. For the first time, the Hong Kong Museum of Art - our city's first public art museum, established more than 60 years ago - has joined forces with the Hong Kong Arts Development Council to co-organise the event. Since 1962, the Museum of Art has been a faithful companion to our city's creative talents, tirelessly promoting Hong Kong art through exhibitions, research and collecting. It has built deep relation with our local art scene, nurtured generations of artists and preserved the stories that shape our cultural identity. Drawing on its profound experience, the Hong Kong Museum of Art has taken up the curation - presenting not one single artist but two: Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui, working in dialogue for the first time.
This year's title is Fermata. As you may know, a fermata is a musical symbol that instructs performers to pause or hold a note at their discretion. In our bustling, hyper-connected world, such pauses are increasingly rare. And this is precisely the gift our two remarkable Hong Kong artists, Kingsley and Angel, offer us today. In resonance with the Biennale theme, In Minor Keys, they have created five new site-specific installations that invite us to slow down and observe the overlooked rhythms of everyday life. The connection between Fermata and Minor Keys - both drawn from the language of music - creates a beautiful, intuitive harmony.
Among the many remarkable exhibitions across this Biennale, each offers a unique perspective. What distinguishes Fermata is its embrace of stillness. In a spectacle-filled global event, we offer a space to breathe and listen to sounds that usually pass us by. This is not a competition of volume, but an invitation to a different conversation, offered by two artists who excel at uncovering poetry in the ordinary.
So what gives Hong Kong art its distinctive voice? It reflects our city's unique position as a crossroads of Eastern and Western cultures - embracing Chinese traditions while incorporating contemporary vocabularies, all firmly rooted in our local context. You will see this vividly in the works.
Angel fuses Suzhou embroidery - an intangible cultural heritage - with multimedia installation. She has also collaborated with local metalsmiths to transform the fading craft of wrought-iron windows into her art. Kingsley responds poetically to Hong Kong's urban fabric, incorporating night-time city sounds and hanging laundry into his installations - allowing Hong Kong's often-overlooked "minor keys" to resonate softly here in Venice.
Hong Kong and Venice are both international cultural hubs where East meets West. Both have been shaped by water, trade and the constant interplay of cultures. Through art, Kingsley and Angel have built a bridge - bringing Hong Kong's living memories and heritage to Venice, forging familiar emotional connections on foreign shores.
As you visit the Hong Kong Exhibition in Venice, I hope you can feel the poetic pulse of our city - and perhaps become curious to experience it for yourself. In the past, Hong Kong was not widely known as a cultural destination for art lovers. That has completely changed over the past decades. Today, Hong Kong is a vibrant cultural hub in its own right. Every March, we host the Art Month - a season when our city comes alive with international art fairs such as Art Basel Hong Kong. Our museums and cultural institutions present countless exhibitions, festivals and events. The energy is extraordinary. I sincerely invite all of you to come to Hong Kong and feel it yourself. When you do, you will find that the fermata continues - in our city's rhythm, in our people's warmth, and in art that lives not only in galleries but in every corner of our daily life.
In closing, I wish "Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice" a resounding success - may it echo through this Biennale and far beyond.
Thank you very much.
Ends/Saturday, May 9, 2026
Issued at HKT 9:26
Issued at HKT 9:26
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