Lisson Gallery at the inaugural Beijing Biennial

2 February 2023

Lisson Gallery is delighted to participate in the inaugural Beijing Biennial with a selection work by its artists, including Allora & Calzadilla, Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg, Channa Horwitz, Haroon Mirza, and Julian Opie. Themed “Symbiosis”, the biennial probes into the coexisting relationship between human and nature, and the possible intergrowth between technology and creative works.

Mural Proposal for Ovitz (2011) by Channa Horwitz is one of the highlights from ‘The Infinite Conversation’ exhibition unit which sheds light on the conversations between contemporary art with historical memory, ecological environment, and natural sciences. The mural occupies an entire wall of the exhibition space, exploring the relationship between series, lines, and systems through combinations of rectangles and circles on an 8x8 grid paper. Also on view in the same unit are three wall-based works from Haroon Mirza’s ‘Light Work’ series. Surrounding by potted plants, Mirza’s works transform the exhibition space into a small “botanical garden”, urging us to reflect on the impact of detriment technology on the natural world.

In the ‘Magic Square: Art and Literature in Mirror Image’ unit, two floral sculptures from the ‘A Stream Stood Still’ by Nathalie Djurberg & Hans Berg demonstrate the duo’s abiding interest in the fleeting nature of human emotions and their shared symbolism for human themes of love, joy, desire, sadness and vulnerability. While three-channel video The Great Silence (2014) by Allora & Calzadilla ponders the irreducible gaps between living, nonliving, human, animal, technological, and cosmic actors.

In the biennale’s public program, Julian Opie’s signature walking people are rendered in banners installed in the compound where Lisson Beijing is located. Opie’s solo exhibition at the Beijing gallery is on view now until 26 March.

Beijing Biennial 2022

30 December 2022 – 12 March 2023