Crossing the Tide - Tuvalu Pavilion, La Biennale di Venezia

Crossing the Tide, the Tuvalu Pavilion for the 56th Venice Biennale reflects on the plea of small island nations facing the effects of global climate change. This is manifested by rising sea levels and increasing severe storms causing floods, and ultimately threatens the future of these small island nations such as Tuvalu, located in the Pacific Ocean. Crossing the tide in the pavilion over slightly submerged food bridges, visitors find themselves in an imaginary space — a dreamscape, but one that echoes a stark reality. The Tuvalu Pavilion reflects on what could be the ultimate catastrophe of the disappearance of land and of the island nation of Tuvalu, in an installation by the Taiwanese artist Vincent J.F. Huang. The Tuvalu Pavilion considers how artists like Vincent J.F. Huang have taken on climate change as the subject matter of their work, and connects to the overall theme of the 56th Venice Biennale, All the World’s Futures in approaching the “fresh appraisal of the relationship of art and artists to the current state of things.”