The China Pavilion exhibition Dream Stream of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia is on view at the Arsenale in Venice, Italy, from 8 May to 22 November 2026 (local time).Echoing the Biennale’s overarching theme, “In Minor Keys,” the exhibition adopts Dream Stream as its thematic framework. Centered on the creative transformation and innovative development of China’s rich traditional cultural heritage, the exhibition explores art-science integration as its primary mode of expression. Through diverse artistic approaches, it responds to the theme of Dream Stream and creates a cross-cultural artistic landscape.
The Art Museum of China Academy of Art will launch the special interview series on the China Pavilion of La Biennale di Venezia. Structured around the curatorial vision, the series is divided into some sections: Forging Ancient and Contemporary, Connecting China and the World, Intertextual Dialogue, and Moments of Highlight. Beyond these thematic sections, the series also focus on the latest creative practices of emerging artists.The series seeks to explore the artists’ creative processes, personal reflections, and artistic inquiries underlying their participation in the Biennale. It will progressively present the exhibition’s exploration of artistic innovation, as well as the enduring contemporary vitality of Chinese cultural traditions.
Intertextual dialogue
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Micro-nano Landscape
Jiang Suxuan
Experiment as Image
Image, sound and perception
at the microscopic scale
▪️Morphological Reconstruction
The work Micro-Nano Landscape originates from ongoing research and microscopic observations of magnetically controlled micro-nanorobot swarms. In relevant studies, programmable magnetic fields are used to modulate the interactions and hydrodynamic forces between magnetic particles, enabling large numbers of micro-nano particles to form dynamically stable swarms. A study published in Nature Communications in 2018 achieved reversible elongation, contraction, merging and splitting of ribbon-shaped magnetic microswarms. In one experiment, the swarm‘s aspect ratio of the swarm expanded from approximately 4 to 22, and the swarm could be controllably split into 2 to 7 sub-swarms, while maintaining stable locomotion and path navigation within complex boundaries and narrow channels.
▪️ Complex Biological
Further research published in Nature Communications in 2019 placed micro-robot swarms in complex biological fluids that better mimic real in-vivo environments. The study systematically investigated how viscosity, ionic strength and network structures affect swarm formation, reconstruction and locomotion. The findings were further experimentally validated in plasma, fetal bovine serum, gastric acid, hyaluronic acid, whole blood, and vitreous humour. Combined with ultrasound imaging, the research realized swarm formation and directional locomotion in ex-vivo bovine eyes, further orienting the technology toward biomedical applications such as targeted delivery.
Research Context
This research is not a one-off experiment, but an ongoing accumulation of scientific studies in the field of micro-nanorobot swarms. Since 2017, the research has gradually advanced from the controllable disassembly and transportation of magnetic particle chains to swarm generation, morphological reconstruction, merging and splitting, and navigation in complex channels. It has further expanded into biomedical directions including complex biological fluids, adaptive control, fluid sensing and selective embolization.
Pavilion Interview
Q1：Could you introduce your work Micro-nano Landscape?
Jiang Suxuan：
Micro-nano Landscape embodies the integration of science, technology and art. Micro-nanorobots were originally developed for medical applications: they can travel inside the human body to unclog blood vessels and assist in drug testing, steered by an external magnetic control system. The opening sequence of the work demonstrates their real-world application scenario. Viewers watch these robots navigate precisely through pulmonary fluid within the human body, performing targeted locomotion and tasks. This first gives audiences an intuitive sense of the practical purpose and physical function of this technology. The camera then moves deeper, shifting to a first-person perspective inside human blood vessels, which gradually transforms into a landscape-like visual imagery.
Formed by swarms of micro-nanorobots, these particles continuously converge, disperse and reorganise. At times they gather into needle-shaped formations; at others they arrange themselves into honeycomb-like clusters. Tiny individual units gradually coalesce and grow stronger. Working collectively, they surmount obstacles and traverse undulating paths as if crossing mountain ridges and winding through valleys. Some individual robots drift alone, wandering through boundless space in solitary exploration. Alternating convergence and dispersion generate a dynamically rhythmic visual flow. The piece renders a fluid, mutable landscape, completing a transformation from authentic microscopic footage into abstract visual poetry. The entities that construct this “landscape” remain micro-nanorobots at their core. Accordingly, the work poses a question: can we forge an emotional bond with these minuscule robotic agents?
To my mind, technology is more than a mere tool; it serves as a medium that expands human cognition and reshapes how we perceive the world. Tech-art should not be reduced to a simple combination of “technology plus art”, nor should it rely purely on sophisticated hardware to deliver spectacular audiovisual effects. It ought to be rooted in fundamental reflection. Technology and art share a common origin. Labels of tradition or contemporaneity are irrelevant — both disciplines exist to raise questions and pursue answers.
Q2:Your work illustrates the fusion of art and technology. How do you connect nanotechnology with the aesthetic tradition of Chinese landscape painting?
Jiang Suxuan：
I originally trained in ink-wash painting, which has cultivated a traditional aesthetic lens through which I observe the world. When I first witnessed experiments with micro-nanorobots, I was profoundly moved. These robots are a thousand times thinner than a human hair, invisible to the naked eye, propelled by high-speed rotating external magnetic fields as they drift through human blood vessels. Images captured at the microscopic scale naturally evoked classical Chinese ink landscapes and their corresponding Oriental aesthetics, along with the philosophical paradigm through which Chinese people comprehend humanity and the cosmos. This immediate visual association opened up new creative directions for my practice.
The human body resembles a microcosm with its own self-contained systems and cycles. Understanding the body constitutes a grand proposition with both scientific depth and philosophical breadth. A single human being is likewise a minuscule particle adrift within the universe, living and moving amid nature and society. Observed from a higher dimensional perspective, human existence becomes almost imperceptible. This artwork seeks to bridge the macroscopic cosmos and microscopic individuals through art, revealing the intrinsic, interconnected relationships among the human body, nature, technology and the universe.
Q3：How did you revise, reinterpret and adapt your work for the spatial context and thematic framework of La Biennale di Venezia? What breakthroughs and evolutions took place during this process?
Jiang Suxuan：
My artworks are perpetually evolving and refined. To align Micro-nano Landscape with the spatial atmosphere and curatorial theme of the China Pavilion of La Biennale di Venezia, Upon the recommendation of the curatorial team, I comprehensively reworked its spatial presentation, audiovisual composition and overall narrative structure. I reconstructed the piece adopting the format of a traditional Chinese handscroll — a familiar, classical viewing medium imbued with the Oriental aesthetic of blank space. These voids may evoke mountains, rivers, clouds or mist, offering a poetic domain for micro-nanorobots to drift freely. Moreover, the elongated shape of the handscroll echoes the morphology of human blood vessels, accommodating the robots’ generative, merging and dispersing movements and realising the work’s original creative intent more fully. The on-site presentation at the China Pavilion of La Biennale di Venezia represents a remarkable upgrade for Micro-nano Landscape, from spatial dimensions and physical installation to its complete visual expression.
Beyond formal and spatial refinements, I reworked the sound design and narrative rhythm. Audio is orchestrated to complement the visuals and sustain the work’s narrative logic. I deliberately emphasise alternating tension and release, shifts between stillness and motion, lending greater depth to these microscopic movements. Mid-piece, the collective energy of all robots peaks, matched by tense, accelerating musical scoring, before the formation slowly collapses and dissipates. The visual imagery transitions organically from landscape aesthetics into the expressive realm of Chinese calligraphy. The first half builds a scenic world through landscapes; the latter conveys artistic spirit through calligraphic brushwork. The sequence then softens, concluding with a gentle, serene resolution.
As audiences perceive this vitality, they are invited to remember that these are precision-engineered robots at heart. The work provokes reflection on whether genuine emotional connections can emerge between humans and machines.
Q4：Micro-nano Landscape embodies your creative philosophy: observing the grand through the minute, revealing heaven and earth within micro-cosmos. At La Biennale di Venezia, it is exhibited alongside the monumental Free and Easy Wandering. How do you interpret this dialogue within the shared exhibition space?
Jiang Suxuan：
Installed together in the China Pavilion of La Biennale di Venezia, Micro-nano Landscape and Professor Wang Dongling’s large-scale calligraphic work Roaming Free enter into a deliberate artistic dialogue — macro versus micro, the outer world versus our inner selves. “Gazing outwards upon heaven and earth; gazing inwards upon mind and body.” The brush-driven poetic realm of Roaming Free evokes unrestrained freedom: it depicts humanity journeying across vast landscapes, an outward-facing act of self-discovery. By contrast, Micro-nano Landscape constitutes an inward-directed exploration, focusing on the microscopic world inside the human body and capturing micro-nanorobots converging and drifting through blood vessels.
There is a dramatic disparity in scale between the two pieces. Yet scale itself is a visual construct; our judgements of size are relative. Viewed from a macroscopic, higher-order dimension, the long course of human history might appear as a tiny particle. Meanwhile, these swarms of nanoscopic agents, seemingly infinitesimal, demonstrate immense power through collective motion and collaboration. I feel honoured to exhibit alongside Roaming Free. The two works resonate with one another, enriching the core concept of the Dream Stream exhibition. Through this contrast in scale, visitors may grasp the profound wisdom of Oriental philosophy: the unity of large and small, the oneness of heaven and humanity.
Q5：What impact has participating in this year’s Venice Biennale had on your subsequent artistic creation and daily life?
Jiang Suxuan：
Exhibiting Micro-nano Landscape at La Biennale di Venezia enabled an Eastern perspective on tech-art to enter an international discourse. My artistic vision has been seen, discussed, recognised and met with empathy and consensus. The work itself was revised and polished throughout the exhibition journey. Evolving from its initial iteration into the handscroll format, it was shaped by constraints of source material, technical parameters and site-specific space. Iterative refinements to audiovisual pacing and narrative architecture brought tremendous personal growth.
This experience has exerted a profound, lasting influence on my creative thinking and artistic vision. I have realised that artistic creation ought to move beyond self-centred emotional expression toward a more open, conversational artistic context, engaging in global artistic exchange and debate. Whether met with empathy or divergent viewpoints, these interactions mark the moment an artwork opens itself up and acquires true value.
Following Micro-nano Landscape, I have employed diverse mediums and materials within tech-art to explore the relationship between the individual and the cosmos, the macroscopic and the microscopic. My installation 0/1, for instance, visualises a binary universe governed by programming between zero and one. Interactive controls invite audiences to experience human fragility. It echoes the preoccupations of Micro-nano Landscape — reflections on scale, humanity, the cosmos, nature and society.
Another piece, Flow Field, draws on 24-hour first-person footage captured by scientists aboard an unmanned sailboat, documenting a world normally invisible to us. Realised as a porthole-shaped moving-image installation, it places viewers inside the vessel looking outwards. This manipulation of spatial perspective recalls the premise of Micro-nano Landscape: we peer through a microscope into invisible realms within the human body. Real-world phenomena we cannot directly observe leave abundant space for imagination.
I intend to continue producing original artistic reflections in the years ahead.
Q6：Further refined after its presentation at La Biennale di Venezia, Micro-nano Landscape has recently received an award at the 2026 Ars Electronica Festival. Honoured by two leading international platforms, how do you believe your work engages and responds to global artistic discourse?
Jiang Suxuan：
Founded in 1987, the Ars Electronica Prize has fostered open-ended critical dialogue around new media within tech-art. This year’s edition received submissions from more than 4,000 artworks across 106 countries. Every participating artist engages with the international art discourse in their own distinct way. For Micro-nano Landscape to be recognised and awarded already represents one form of response.
These two accolades originate respectively from the sphere of contemporary art exhibitions and the jury system for media art. Together they attest to the work’s interdisciplinary practice along two dimensions: cultural expression and media innovation. What matters most is the opportunity to present Eastern philosophical ideas for discussion amid nations with divergent politics, cultures and belief systems. Our artistic inquiry establishes connections and exchanges with globally relevant concerns. This encourages my future practice to dig deeper into fundamental questions rather than superficially grafting novel technologies onto quirky conceptual frameworks.
