On the 700th anniversary of the death of Marco Polo, La Biennale di Venezia with its Historical Archive of the Contemporary Arts (ASAC) celebrates in Hangzhou, with the special support of the Consulate General of Italy in Shanghai and the Italian Cultural Institute in Shanghai, his extraordinary abilities as a traveler and connoisseur of peoples with a special project. The exhibition is jointly hosted by CAA and La Biennale di Venezia and organized by the Art Museum of CAA and ASAC.

"A single stream connects the lakes of West Lake, misty green mountains encircle the Buddhist temples. Autumn brings clarity to gardens of the homeland; tomorrow, the osmanthus will face the wind and rain." These lines were written by Hangzhou poet Qiu Yuan in 1287, the same year Marco Polo is believed to have first visited Hangzhou, describing it as the "City of Heaven" and "the finest and most splendid city in the world." The year 2024 marks the 20th anniversary of the comprehensive strategic partnership between China and Italy, with both governments jointly releasing the Action Plan on Strengthening the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (2024–2027) in July. This exhibition is the sign of the first collaboration arising from the three-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by La Biennale di Venezia and CAA on August 8, 2024.

To commemorate Marco Polo as a cultural envoy between China and Italy, La Biennale di Venezia launched the project The Wind Makes the Sky, which retraces his footsteps.

Both China and Italy are ancient civilizations with a long history. The two nations share a common understanding: the history of a civilization did not perish with the past; instead, its vitality remains potent in the present, contributing to contemporary society. China and Italy, with the memories and potential carried on its history, learn from each other, and unfold in its unique context. At the MoU signing ceremony in August, Gao Shiming, CPC Committee Member, Secretary of Secretariat and former President of CAA, stated, "Our shared aim is to 'draw from the sources, and venture with the greats' in contemporary art in the context of world civilization. In the future, the two sides will unite the artistic and cultural forces in China and Asia to deepen cooperation with La Biennale di Venezia, expanding the space for cultural exchanges between China and Italy and unleashing a richer spectrum of 21st-century art."

Founded in 1895, La Biennale di Venezia is one of the largest and most important contemporary visual art exhibitions globally and the oldest international art biennale. From its inception, La Biennale di Venezia has held firm to the belief that "art is the most valuable part of civilization, fostering friendship among peoples." The Biennale encompasses multiple fields—Art, Architecture, Cinema, Dance, Music, and Theatre—reflecting contemporary global issues through art, promoting innovation within the city, and serving as a critical platform for exchange and cooperation within the international art community.

Pietrangelo Buttafuoco, President of La Biennale di Venezia, noted that both Italy and China have glorious histories and share numerous commonalities in the realm of philosophy. Through collaboration, the diverse thoughts and concepts of both nations can engage in meaningful dialogue, which is bound to present more opportunities for cooperation and extend the long-standing friendship between the two countries into the contemporary cultural landscape. Furthermore, both sides bear a more profound responsibility: to foster the exchanges and interaction of contemporary art and diverse cultural ideas, thus injecting new vitality and brilliance into the present era.

The first leg of this journey following in his footsteps is The Perfect Path, a collective exhibition, with the support of the China Academy of Art, that begins its reflections on the basis of the research that has been cultivated at the Academy. The Perfect Path, the title of the exhibition, is one of the ways to describe the concept of dao. Around this principle, it gathers a group of Chinese artists who have distinguished themselves for their artistic genres, with an outlook mindful of tradition which at the same time fully embraces the latest technological developments. The exhibition displays and enhances the works of artists operating within the Chinese artistic system, which continues to reveal itself as one of the most significant areas of renewal in the languages of visual art, with the aim of portraying a generation that has envisioned and traced an original and innovative path rooted in a millenary tradition.

At the same time, these works bear witness to a structured educational model that has effectively interpreted the uncertainties of our time, taking into account all the interstitial spaces that describe the complex process of fragmentation taking place in our modern world. These artists demonstrate an extraordinary capacity for adaptation in the eyes of those who will admire their works, and their attitudes indicate a road yet to be traveled: these are the trailblazers along an unexplored path who respond to that ancestral need to go just a little bit further.

Outside the museum, a stage designed by the Istanbul-native artist Cevdet Erek, Amfibio, welcomes the public into a space of encounter designed to be shaped and adapted to each location along the route traveled by La Biennale. Inside the exhibition hall, works by artists and creative collectives active in China's contemporary art system are presented, listed alphabetically by surname: Cao Shu, Chen Liang, Cheng Ran, Dai Chenlian, Feng Bingyi, Gao Shiqiang + Mountain Water Collective, Xu Jiang (artist at the 10th International Architecture Exhibition Venice), Kang Kaiwen, Liu Wei (artist at the 51st and 58th International Art Exhibitions Venice), Liu Yi, Qiu Zhijie (artist at the 53rd and 56th International Art Exhibition Venice, curator of the China Pavilion at the 57th International Art Exhibition Venice), Shi Bing + Lin Yi, Yang Fudong (artist at the 50th and 52nd International Art Exhibitions Venice), Ye Yufeng, Yi Lian, Ying Xinshun, Yuan Keru, along with creative teams from the School of Film Art and the School of Animation and Games, CAA. The exhibition includes Xu Jiang's bronze sculpture Is Symbiosis Possible?, Qiu Zhijie's ink-on-paper work Hairy Crab: The Artistic Ecology Map, Gao Shiqiang and Mountain Water Collective's video work Mountain Water: Six Chapters of Yunshan, Liu Wei's installation Look, a Book!, Yang Fudong's black-and-white film Strange Paradise, Yi Lian's photography series Dispersed Continent and Narrative of a Street, Yuan Keru's video installation Eternity and the Moment, Cao Shu's video installation Demon Sugar, among others.

Marco Polo has served as a link between China and Italy, Venice and Hangzhou, creating a unique resonance between the past and the present. 2025 marks the 55th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and Italy and the 130th anniversary of La Biennale di Venezia. Future collaborations between CAA and La Biennale di Venezia are expected to deepen artistic and cultural exchanges through dialogues between Chinese and international contemporary artists. Together, they will use art to tell China's story, presenting cultural achievements that "fuse ancient and modern, bridge China and the world," and jointly explore the future of global art.

The exhibition opened to the public on November 11 and will run until January 10, 2025.