INKstudio is pleased to announce that artist Wang Dongling is participating in the China Pavilion exhibition Dream Stream at the 61st International Art Exhibition — La Biennale di Venezia. Organized by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the People's Republic of China and curated by the Art Museum of the China Academy of Art, the exhibition officially opened in Venice on May 8, 2026.
Taking its conceptual point of departure from Dream Stream Essays (Mengxi Bitan) by the Northern Song scholar Shen Kuo, the exhibition explores the evolving relationship between art and technology in the digital age. Bringing together calligraphy, moving image, installation, digital narrative, and AI-based practices, the China Pavilion examines how traditional Chinese cultural thought may be reactivated through contemporary interdisciplinary forms.
For the exhibition, Wang Dongling presents his monumental cursive calligraphy work Free and Easy Wandering, measuring 6.43 meters high and 16 meters wide. Inspired by Zhuangzi's allegory of the mythical kunpeng - a giant creature transforming from fish into bird - the work channels themes of freedom, movement, and spiritual transcendence through Wang's highly gestural calligraphic language. The exhibition also features a robotic writing system jointly developed by the Design Innovation Center for Robotic Aesthetics and Human Factors Engineering at the China Academy of Art and Astribot, capable of simulating Wang Dongling's brushwork to write the characters "Dream Stream." This dialogue between classical calligraphy and artificial intelligence forms a key component of the pavilion's broader inquiry into the convergence of art and technology.
Over several decades, Wang Dongling has continually expanded the expressive possibilities of contemporary calligraphy through his experimental "Chaos Script" practice, challenging conventional distinctions between writing and image, gesture and space. His presentation at the Venice Biennale further underscores the vitality and adaptability of Chinese calligraphy within an international contemporary art context.
The 61st International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia runs from May through November 2026. As one of the world's most influential international art exhibitions, the Venice Biennale remains a vital platform for cross-cultural dialogue and artistic experimentation.
May 20, 2026
