Taipei Biennial 2025: A Living Dialogue Between Taiwan’s Art Past and Global Futures

PUBLISHED January 14th, 2026 06:59 pm

Taipei is a city that rewards close attention. Especially in winter, when the pace slows and the skies soften, it’s a place that invites reflection. For a weekend that leans into culture and curiosity, the Taipei Biennial 2025 makes a solid case. Held at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum (TFAM), this year’s edition, Whispers on the Horizon, brings the past and present into direct conversation.

Curated by Sam Bardaouil and Till Fellrath, co-directors of Hamburger Bahnhof in Berlin, the Biennial features 72 artists from 37 cities, including 34 new commissions. It’s an international gathering, but what makes it particularly interesting is how it centres Taiwan’s own art history not as a backdrop, but as part of the main story.

Instead of separating old and new, the curators have placed early 20th-century Taiwanese painters like Chen Cheng-Po, Chen Chin, and Chen Chih-Chi alongside new installations. These historical works are often viewed through the lens of art history or nationhood. They become something more immediate like the evidence of people navigating change, uncertainty, and identity. Those themes are just as present in the newer works on show.

“We began to see the exhibition as a continuum of sensibilities,” say the curators. “Early works don’t just document a past moment; they articulate a condition of living through transformation.”

Take Chen Cheng-Po’s landscapes, painted during Japanese colonial rule. Their calm clarity feels steadying, even now. Nearby, Ciou Zih-Yan’s Fake Airfield (2025) reconstructs a fake wartime airstrip, spotlighting how history can be manipulated or lost. Though made almost a century apart, both pieces reflect a search for clarity in complex times.

Upstairs, Chen Chin’s portraits of women carry a quiet confidence. They share space with works exploring identity and care in a contemporary context. The effect isn’t jarring; it’s grounding. This Biennial isn’t about showcasing contrast. It’s about shared concerns across time.

Some installations are immersive such as Korakrit Arunanondchai’s Love after Death (2025) is part film, part ritual, and entirely transportive. Others, like Gaëlle Choisne’s Fortune Cookies, are more modest in scale but rich in meaning. Each clay cookie hides a seed or secret, a quiet nod to generational memory and inherited stories.

The layout of the show complements this approach. Textile partitions replace gallery walls, encouraging a slower pace and visual openness. It’s an invitation to take your time.

The curators note that their process began with listening to the museum, to Taipei, to its artists. “Taiwan’s layered past became the grounding condition of the Biennial,” they explain. Rather than trying to find a universal message, they focused on local perspectives that could speak clearly to global audiences.

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For those looking to experience art that feels rooted, Whispers on the Horizon is a rewarding stop. The Taipei Biennial runs until 29 March 2026 at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum. To learn more and plan your visit, head to www.taipeibiennial.org.