Hong Kong Artists Hold a Pause in Venice With 'Fermata'
Two Hong Kong-born artists are filling a historic Venetian home with light, sound and moving metal, and the show runs until 22 November. Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui are the artists in "Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice", a collateral exhibition at the Venice Biennale, the international art show held in Italy's canal city. A collateral exhibition is an official side event that runs alongside the main programme rather than inside its central venues.
The show is curated by the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA), and it marks 25 years since Hong Kong first took part in the Biennale. It is housed in a historic residential building in the Campo della Tana neighbourhood. Dr Maria Mok is the director of the HKMoA. The artists made site-specific works, pieces designed for that particular building, according to The Art Newspaper.
The title works on two levels. A fermata is a musical sign that tells a performer to hold a note or pause. It is also the name of the stops where Venice's vaporetto water buses pick up and drop off passengers. The Venice Biennale's official website lists the show as a collateral event of Biennale Arte 2026, the 61st International Art Exhibition.
Ng's installation, Laundry Nocturne (2026), uses a projection and a soundscape to evoke light across laundry hung between buildings. Hui's I Would Like to Open a Window for You (2026) hangs glowing plastic bags embroidered with goldfish motifs overhead. The same work includes a handwrought iron window, made with traditional metalsmiths, that turns slowly in the gallery.
For visitors, the practical detail is the date. The exhibition, which opened on 9 May, closes on 22 November, so there are a few weeks left to see it in Venice.
