Featured: “Fermata, Hong Kong in Venice” by Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui

“Fermata: Hong Kong in Venice,” one of the collateral exhibitions of the 61st Venice Biennale, builds a bridge between the two cities built water and marked by strong maritime histories. Artists Kingsley Ng and Angel Hui transformed Campo della Tana, near the Arsenal, into a subtle painting of light, sound and movement, creating a sensory and poetic sequence of Hong Kong’s everyday rhythms. Visitors immerse themselves in a synesthesia experience that traces the city’s gradual transition from night to day. “Every installation takes place as a sequence of space-time in a loop; every second and every session offers a surprise,” Hui tells the Observer, explaining how, instead of presenting isolated objects, the artists conceived the exhibition as a shared sensory journey that connects many practices. Although this marks their first collaboration, Hui previously studied under Ng, establishing a cross-generational dialogue between their methods.

Sound plays an important role in shaping the entire world. Field recordings from Hong Kong at night—including the sounds of traffic, birdsong and distant urban air—are integrated into a collaborative soundscape that changes throughout the 10-minute installation cycle. “I told Ng Kingsley what I had in mind, and he helped design it because we see every exhibition as one journey, not separate works,” explained Hui, describing the essence of the show as a planned temporary experience.

A red window floats suspended in space, surrounded by small plastic bags with goldfish—these forms are actually beautifully decorated, introducing a sensual and artistic quality to the installation. Through Suzhou’s intricate embroidery, Hui transformed fragile, disposable objects into objects of care and contemplation. Plastic bags drift slowly through space while a luminous goldfish blinks overhead, slowly emerging from the darkness at measured intervals before coalescing into a floating constellation above the viewer. Each installation transforms ordinary, neglected objects into a drifting sanctuary where time is suspended and the subtle rhythms of everyday life begin to emerge.

Hui emphasizes openness—both spatial and psychological—while transforming ordinary objects into poetic forms. Plastic bags, umbrellas, textiles and other neglected items are repurposed with artistic touches and theatrical lighting effects that challenge conventional notions of value and craftsmanship. “In this project, I ask how we can see ordinary things in a different way, how we can give them value, or turn them into works of art,” he explained.

The embroideries used on the industrial plastic surface create a tension between softness and texture, while hints of shadow play introduce a theatrical dimension and fantasy. Hui describes the project as a breakthrough in his practice, moving beyond wall-based displays to an immersive, cinematic language. “I wanted to create an imagination and connection between the two cities. Venice and Hong Kong have the same spirit,” he adds.

Waterwindows and floating forms appear as central objects in which Hui explores imagination, accessibility and the emotional connection between Hong Kong and Venice. He collaborated with local blacksmiths in Hong Kong on a wrought iron window frame, which incorporates the traditional decorations of both cities. Traces of handiwork are intentionally left visible, allowing creativity and the passage of time to shape the pieces while also acknowledging the pressures that changing technology places on traditional clothing and its slow maintenance rhythms.

Entering the discussion, Ng directs attention to a central installation inspired by the “sky fountain,” a vertical architectural feature common in Hong Kong buildings: “In Venice, we are familiar with fountains that descend to the ground. In Hong Kong, instead we have what we call ‘sky fountains,’ vertical spaces that rise up through dense buildings. There is a conversation between Hong Kong and the Hong Kong well. Inside, water it rotates continuously, creating bubbles that pop under a small floating light. “Bubbles and laundry celebrates everyday work and craft, but also allows us to think about something bigger—the stars, the structure of the universe, wisdom.

While Hui’s work focuses on the physical texture of everyday urban life, Ng’s practice engages with the intangible, illuminating what already exists and foregrounding the atmosphere produced by the city itself. In the adjacent room, a meditative installation combined with light, shadows, projections and sound evokes the image of washing hanging on the windows. “Even speculation creates uncertainty; viewers are not always sure whether the light is real or artificial,” he explains. It has a title Laundry Nocturne (早曬夜曲), the work emerged from Ng’s experience in Venice, where the hanging laundry stretched between buildings recalls scenes that once existed everywhere in Hong Kong.

The soundscape accompanies the transition from early night to the early hours of the morning in Hong Kong. (Another recording comes from the city’s highest mountain, where a teahouse prepares a bleak pre-dawn breakfast.) The exhibition depicts a suspended—at once poignant and imagined—moment in a temporal and spatial catastrophe that momentarily transports Hong Kong to Venice.

Technology is central to Ng’s work, as it is for many Hong Kong artists, yet he deliberately keeps it from dominating the work. Technology programs are always hidden, almost invisible. Out in the yard, he extended the laundry metaphor. “I wanted to connect the sky, the sunlight and water– drying of water,” he explains.” Five pools of unequal size, like pools left after rain, spread out in space.” Above them, brilliantly colored ribbons extend from the surrounding walls, delicately moved by subtle motors, twisting and turning to catch and reflect the daylight like the drapery draped in a Venetian palace opposite.

Throughout our conversation, both artists repeatedly returned to the concept of communication: between generations, between cities, between material and intangible forms and between audience and place. Installation uses everyday objects (laundry, windows, shades, watercare and ambient sound) as the basis of a contemplative experience that returns attention to the city’s silent frequencies and the often neglected rhythms of everyday urban life.

More from the Venice Biennale