The Taipei Biennial 2025 announces its Theme Whispers on the Horizon and Artist Lineup

Taiwan’s layered history—marked by colonial rule, shifting identities, and political transformation —forms the backdrop of the Taipei Biennial 2025. Whispers on the Horizon explores the notion of yearning, expanding it beyond mere desire into something more persistent, unresolved, and deeply embedded in the human condition.

Yearning is a force that stretches across time and geography. It is the ache of lost homes and forgotten histories, the quiet pull of a future that never fully arrives. It is not simply nostalgia, nor is it hope—it exists in-between, in the suspended space where past, present, and future collide. Whispers on the Horizon traces this longing as it manifests in personal narratives and collective memory, resonating between reality and illusion, belonging and displacement, permanence and disappearance.

In Whispers on the Horizon, contemporary works will engage in a dialogue with early 20th-century paintings from Taipei Fine Arts Museum’s collection — including works by Chen Cheng-Po, Chen Chin, and Chen Chih-Chi. Moreover, the biennial will draw inspiration from artifacts from the National Palace Museum. This adds an extra historical dimension and cultural depth to the meaning of yearning, reminding us that yearning is not merely an emotional experience, but a reverberation across time, preserved in paint and porcelain, in delicate brushstrokes, and in objects that transcend borders and generations. They act as visual and conceptual bridges, reminding us that longing is not bound to the present; it echoes through centuries, across cultural shifts and political ruptures.

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)

Chen Cheng-Po (1895-1947, Chiayi)

Chen Chih-Chi (1906-1931, Taihoku Chō, now New Taipei City)

Chen Chin (1907-1998, Hsinchu)

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

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 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 Tainan)

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

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

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

Anna Jermolaewa (born in 1970, Leningrad, now St. Petersburg- 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)

Christopher Kulendran Thomas (born in 1979, London - lives and works in Berlin and London)

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

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

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

Camille Norment (born in 1970, Silver Spring Maryland - lives and works in Oslo)

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

Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum (born in 1980, Mochudi - lives and works in The Hague)

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

Chia-Yun Wu (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)

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

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