Taiwan Debuts ‘Screen Melancholy: Li Yi-Fan’ at the Venice Biennale 2026

Introduction

The Taipei Fine Arts Museum proudly presents the Taiwan Collateral Event Screen Melancholy: Li Yi-Fan at the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia. This highly anticipated exhibition takes place at the historic Palazzo delle Prigioni from May 9 to November 22, 2026, showcasing innovative contemporary art that explores the intricate relationship between imagery, technology, and human perception.

Exhibition Overview

Curated by Raphael Fonseca, a renowned curator of visual arts based in Lisbon and Porto, Portugal, the exhibition features a new immersive installation by Taiwanese artist Li Yi-Fan. The work is part of Taiwan’s effort to highlight its vibrant contemporary art scene on an international stage, emphasizing themes that resonate globally.

Concept and Themes

The exhibition’s title, Screen Melancholy, originally conceived in Portuguese as Melancolia de tela, reflects on how screens—be it television, smartphones, or other digital devices—mediate our daily experiences and influence our perception of reality. The title evolves across languages, adding nuanced interpretations that underscore the universal impact of digital imagery.

This work aligns with the Venice Biennale 2026 theme, In Minor Keys, which evokes a melancholic atmosphere through musical metaphor, prompting viewers to reflect on subtle emotional and sensory dissonance induced by modern technology.

Artistic Installation

The installation spans the entire space of the Palazzo delle Prigioni and combines video, mixed media, sculptures, and sound to create an immersive environment. Large-scale, customized sculptures of fragmented limbs are dispersed throughout the venue, symbolizing the physical and fictional characters emerging from the video works. These sculptures serve as a visual metaphor for the fractured nature of human perception in the digital age.

Viewers are invited to navigate the space at their own pace, experiencing the layered sensory stimuli and contemplating the emotional and cognitive dissonance that Li Yi-Fan explores. The work raises profound questions about how, in a world where knowledge is vast but life is fleeting, we respond to the world around us through the lens of melancholy.

Significance of the Exhibition

This event marks the first time the Taipei Fine Arts Museum has hosted an exhibition at Palazzo delle Prigioni since 1995, reaffirming Taiwan’s commitment to engaging with global contemporary art dialogues. It also underscores the importance of examining the influence of technology on human emotion and perception in an increasingly digital society.

Additional Information

For more details about the exhibition and Taiwan’s participation in Venice 2026, visit taiwaninvenice.org/2026.