The 15th Shanghai Biennale, titled Does the Flower Hear the Bee?, opens at the Power Station of Art on November 8th, 2025, and runs through March 31st, 2026. This edition of the Shanghai Biennale emphasizes connections between human and nonhuman intelligence, offering visitors a unique lens into the more-than-human world. Curated by Chief Curator Kitty Scott with co-curators Daisy Desrosiers and Xue Tan, the exhibition includes contributions from emerging curators Long Yitang and Zhang Yingying. The Biennale features over 250 works by 67 artists and collectives from around the globe, including sixteen from China.
Exhibition scenography
The exhibition scenography is designed by all(zone) / Rachaporn Choochuey, who transforms the Power Station of Art into a garden-like landscape. Raw concrete blocks throughout the space create vantage points for artworks, mimicking the forms of rocks in a traditional garden. Visitors move freely, with no prescribed path, discovering artworks at their own pace. The scenography emphasizes immersion and reflection, encouraging visitors to become part of the ecology of the exhibition. Graphic designer Sara De Bondt and editor Sarah Demeuse shape the visual and textual identity, creating cohesion across print and spatial design.
Power Station of Art and City Projects
Beyond the museum, the Biennale spreads into the city with site-specific City Projects at Jia Yuan Hai Art Museum, VILLA tbh, the Penjing Garden of the Shanghai Botanical Garden, and klee klee & friends. These projects invite audiences to experience contemporary art across urban, domestic, and botanical settings.
Maxime Cavajani and Theaster Gates activate the Jia Yuan Hai Art Museum with installations exploring urban and social ecologies, while Rirkrit Tiravanija creates interactive experiences at both the Power Station of Art and City Project sites, engaging audiences in communal activities. Haegue Yang’s sculptural work examines sensory perception and the interaction between human and nonhuman presence. Liu Shuai’s pieces connect multiple City Project sites, weaving a narrative across museum and public spaces.
The Biennale encourages reflection on the interactions between life forms, highlighting new forms of communication and alternative ways of inhabiting the world. The works invite contemplation of environmental, social, and technological change, showing how contemporary art can heighten awareness of interconnected intelligences. By merging architecture, scenography, and art, the Shanghai Biennale serves as a platform for experimentation and cultural exchange.
Penumbra and Phantom Forest at the 15th Shanghai Biennale, Does the flower hear the bee?, 2025, POWER STATION OF ART
Courtesy of ALLORA & CALZADILLA, LISSON GALLERY, GALERIE CHANTAL CROUSEL, and KURIMANZUTTO. Image courtesy of POWER STATION OF ART
Prologue II. Resonant Blossoms, 2025. Metal and bamboo stands with speakers.
Courtesy of TANIA CANDIANI and VERMELHO GALLERY. Photography courtesy of POWER STATION OF ART
Abrazar el sol (Embrace the Sun), 2023-2024
Native Peruvian cotton, threads dyed in purple corn, copper rods. Commissioned by BIENNALE OF SYDNEY and FONDATION CARTIER POUR L’ART CONTEMPORAIN. Courtesy of the artist. Photography courtesy of POWER STATION OF ART
Accommodating the Epic Dispersion – On Non-Cathartic Volume of Dispersion, 2012.
Aluminum venetian blinds, powder-coated aluminum hanging structure, steel wire rope. Courtesy of HAEGUE YANG. Photography courtesy of POWER STATION OF ART
Courtesy of JIAYUANHAI ART MUSEUM and THEASTER GATES STUDIO
