17 September 2025 – Taipei: The 14th edition of the Taipei Biennial, Whispers on the Horizon, is set to open to on November 1 at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM). Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, directors of Hamburger Bahnhof—National Gallery of Contemporary Art in Berlin, the exhibition brings together 52 artists from 35 cities worldwide, featuring 33 newly commissioned works and site-specific installations.

The exhibition explores the notion of yearning—not as nostalgia, but as a vital tension between the real and the desired. Rooted in Taiwan’s layered histories yet resonating across borders and cultures, this longing manifests as both a profoundly human impulse and a lens through which to interpret our present. Yet today, yearning takes on a new urgency: it becomes a collective pursuit for justice, recognition, and belonging in the face of erasure.

This sense of urgency echoes through three artifacts that inspired the biennial: the puppet from Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s film The Puppetmaster (1993), the diary from Chen Yingzhen’s short story My Little Brother Kangxiong (1960), and the bicycle from Wu Ming-Yi’s novel The Stolen Bicycle (2015). Each object embodies both loss and desire, reminding us that yearning is lived—not abstract.

Whispers on the Horizon gathers works that embody yearning in strikingly different ways, from film and performance to sculpture and immersive environments. These works create a shared terrain of memory, fragility, and invention—each a whisper on the horizon, urging us to listen differently and to stand amid the unfinished. Through new commissions and encounters, the Taipei Biennial invites visitors into this in-between space—a realm of discovery and possibility.

Highlights of the 14th Taipei Biennial include the following newly commissioned works:

• Korakrit Arunanondchai’s (b. 1986, lives and works in Bangkok and New York) Love after Death merges recollections and myth into a ghostly ritual: on a transparent projection, spirits and monkeys said to channel the dead flicker into view, asking how grief can turn ash into gold.

• Omar Mismar’s (b. 1986, lives and works in Beirut) Still My Eyes Water presents a monumental bouquet of artificial flowers inspired by Flowers of Palestine (1870). Perfect yet scentless, they reflect on Palestine as both a land of life and a fading memory.

• Zih-Yan Ciou (b. 1985, lives and works in Miaoli and Yunlin) reconstructs a colonial decoy airfield in Fake Airfield, with a handmade Zero fighter and fictional film, exposing history as invention and exploring Taiwanese identity and his own Hakka heritage.

The exhibition also features the following immersive and participatory site-specific installations:

•     Álvaro Urbano’s (b. 1983, lives and works in Berlin and Paris) TABLEAU VIVANT (A Stolen Sun) is a silent theater where objects glow like apparitions under shifting light, intertwined with works from the TFAM collection, blurring museum and stage, history and role-play.

• Fatma Abdulhadi (b. 1988, lives and works in Riyadh) builds a fragrant garden of basil and printed mesh in What Remains... Stay as Long as You Can, preserving fading rituals of care and reminiscence where scent and silence become vessels of belonging.

• Gaëlle Choisne’s  (b. 1985, lives and works in Fougères and Paris) Fortune Cookies is an installation of thousands of handmade clay fortune cookies, each containing a seed or secret, evoking hidden labor and misattributed cultural histories.

Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath said, “what strikes us today is how yearning is no longer only an individual expression but something profoundly collective. Everywhere we look, there is a longing for clarity in the face of disinformation, for belonging in fractured communities, for connection in a time of divisiveness. The works in the Biennial don’t resolve these tensions—rather, they seek to make them tangible. That is the promise of this Biennial: to experience yearning not as something abstract or historical, but as something alive, urgent, and shared in the present.”

On the opening weekend, November 1 and 2, 2025, in addition to Jacopo Benassi’s live performance, the Biennial will host a two-day forum of 6 panels, delving deeper into themes of yearning, belonging, dissonance, history, seeing and collaboration. The event will feature conversations and contributions from nearly 30 acclaimed artists and thinkers, including Taiwanese writer and scholar Wu Ming-Yi, multimedia and installation artist Mona Hatoum, multidisciplinary artist and sculptor Ivana Bašić, and filmmaker Wu Chia-Yun, among other distinguished participants. Building on the exhibition’s presentation, these sessions spark discussions and exchanges on art’s ability to probe deeply, challenge assumptions, and open new possibilities.

This year’s Taipei Biennial has been made possible through the generous contributions of numerous corporate partners and organizations, whose support has been instrumental in bringing the exhibition to fruition. CTBC Foundation for Arts and Culture has served as the lead sponsor of Taipei Biennial for three consecutive editions. Feng Chi-Tai, chairman of the CTBC Foundation for Arts and Culture, states: “Taipei Biennial is an iconic platform within the global contemporary art scene, creating an environment where Taiwanese contemporary artists thrive alongside their international peers. We hope that by bringing in resources from all fields, we can strengthen Taiwan's role in global cultural exchange and introduce the public to the diverse meanings and values of contemporary art.” Acknowledgment is also extended to the National Center for Art Research, Japan for supporting Japanese artists, the Hong Foundation for supporting Taiwanese artists, and Pauian Archiland for their contribution to exhibition space production.

For more information, visit the Taipei Biennial 2025 website (www.taipeibiennial.org/2025) or follow TFAM Facebook /Instagram page.

Full List of Participating Artists 

Fatma Abdulhadi (born in 1988, Riyadh - lives and works in Riyadh) 

Afra Al Dhaheri (born in 1988, Abu Dhabi - lives and works in Abu Dhabi) 

Mohammad Al Faraj (born in 1993, Al Hassa - lives and works in Al Hassa) 

Korakrit Arunanondchai (born in 1986, Bangkok - lives and works in New York and Bangkok) 

Ivana Bašić (born in 1986, Belgrade - lives and works in New York) 

Rana Begum (born in 1977, Sylhet - lives and works in London) 

Monia Ben Hamouda (born in 1991, Milan - lives and works in al-Qayrawan and Milan) 

Jacopo Benassi (born in 1970, La Spezia - lives and works in La Spezia) 

Hera Büyüktaşçıyan (born in 1984, Istanbul - lives and works in Istanbul) 

Edgar Calel (born in 1987, Chi Xot, San Juan Comalapa - lives and works in Chi Xot, San 

Juan Comalapa) 

Fran Chang (born in 1990, Poços de Caldas, lives and works in São Paulo)

Chen Cheng-Po (born in 1895, Chiayi - died in 1947, Chiayi) 

Chen Chih-Chi (born in 1906, Xizhi, Taipei - died in 1931, Xizhi, Taipei, now New Taipei City) 

Chen Chin (born in 1907, Hsinchu - died in 1998, Taipei) 

Skyler Chen (born in 1982, Kaohsiung City - lives and works in Rotterdam) 

Musquiqui Chihying (born in 1985, Taipei - lives and works in Taipei and Berlin) 

Gäelle Choisne (born in 1985, Cherbourg - lives and works in Fougères and Paris) 

Isaac Chong Wai (born in 1990, Guangdong - lives and works in Berlin and Hong Kong) 

Zih-Yan Ciou (born in 1985, Sanyi, Miaoli - lives and works in Miaoli and Yunlin) 

Jacky Connolly (born in 1990, Lower Hudson Valley, New York - lives and works in Athens, New York) 

Rohini Devasher (born in 1978, New Delhi - lives and works in New Delhi) 

Simon Dybbroe Møller (born in 1976, Aarhus - lives and works in Copenhagen) 

Mona Hatoum (born in 1952, Beirut - lives and works in London) 

He Zike (born in 1990, Guiyang - lives and works in Beijing and Guiyang) 

Ho Yen Yen (born in 1993, Taipei - lives and works in Taipei) 

Anna Jermolaewa (born in 1970, Leningrad - lives and works in Vienna and Linz) 

Eva Jospin (born in 1975, Paris - lives and works in Paris) 

Minjung Kim (born in 1962, Gwangju - lives and works in New York and South France) 

Joeun Kim Aatchim (born in 1989, South Korea - lives and works in New York) 

Lina Lapelytė (born in 1984, Kaunas - lives and works in London and Vilnius) 

Omar Mismar (born in 1986, Taanayel - lives and works in Beirut) 

Ni Hao (born in 1989, Hsinchu - lives and works in Hsinchu) 

Henrique Oliveira (born in 1973, São Paulo - lives and works in London) 

Bunny Rogers (born in 1990, Houston - lives and works in Queens, New York) 

Hiraki Sawa (born in 1977, Ishikawa - lives and works in London and Kanazawa) 

Sylvie Selig (born in 1941, Nice - lives and works in Paris) 

Jeremy Shaw (born in 1977, North Vancouver - lives and works in Berlin) 

P. Staff (born in 1987, Bognor Regis - lives and works in Los Angeles and London) 

Young-jun Tak (born in 1989, Seoul - lives and works in Berlin) 

Fuyuhiko Takata (born in 1987, Hiroshima - lives and works in Chiba) 

Sung Tieu (born in 1987, Hai Duong - lives and works in Berlin) 

Kiriakos Tompolidis (born in 1997, Essen - lives and works in Berlin) 

Álvaro Urbano (born in 1983, Madrid - lives and works in Berlin and Paris) 

Hsiang Lin Wang (born in 1984, Taipei - lives and works in Taipei) 

Yao-Yi Wang (born in 1987, Tainan - lives and works in Taipei) 

Nari Ward (born in 1963, St. Andrew - lives and works in New York) 

Wu Chia-Yun (born in 1988, Yilan - lives and works in New York) 

Yeesookyung (born in 1963, Seoul - lives and works in Seoul) 

Shizuka Yokomizo (born in 1966, Tokyo - lives and works in London) 

Yu Ji (born in 1985, Shanghai - lives and works in New York and Shanghai) 

Zhang Ruyi (born in 1985, Shanghai - lives and works in New York and  Shanghai) 

Tobias Zielony (born in 1973, Wuppertal - lives and works in Berlin) 

Download：

20250917_Taipei Biennial 2025_Image Sheet.pdf

20250917_TFAM Press Release_Taipei Biennial 2025 Unveils Highlights and Opening Program.pdf

20250917_Appendix_About curators, Taipei Biennial and sopnsors.pdf

Images.zip