Ding Yi at Fondazione Querini Stampalia during 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, Italy
27 February 2026
From 9 May – 22 November 2026, one of China’s most prominent abstractionists, the Shanghai-based artist Ding Yi, presents a major presentation Cosmotechnics: Ding Yi as a Planetary Code at Fondazione Querini Stampalia, coinciding with the opening of the 61st International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia
Curated by Alfredo Cramerotti and Auronda Scalera, the exhibition brings together new and historic works that trace the evolution of Ding Yi’s language, alongside a series of stone steles that anchor the exhibition as a place of reflection and ritual, recalling ancient sites across China and Europe. Titled Cosmotechnics – a concept borrowed from philosopher Yuk Hui – the presentation transforms the Area Scarpa into a contemplative forest of images, the works operating like a planetary code with their placement creating a meandering path reminiscent of traditional Chinese gardens.
For Cosmotechnics, Ding Yi brings this inquiry to its most distilled form: twelve black-and-white paintings arranged as a constellation. These panels function as both paintings and contemporary steles, forming a meditative environment that invites the visitor to move slowly and encounter each work from multiple perspectives. Accompanying these panels are two stone steles, either incised or rendered in relief, carved with Ding Yi’s signature ‘Appearance of Crosses’ motif. These commemorative forms, at once minimal and monumental, situate the paintings within a deeper temporal register, recalling China’s renowned Stele Forest (Beilin) and ancient sites such as Stonehenge, inviting reflection on memory, continuity, and cosmic orientation.
Cosmotechnics: Ding Yi as a Planetary Code is presented by the Fondazione Querini Stampalia with the support of Lisson Gallery and ShanghART Gallery.
Learn more about the exhibition.
Image: Appearance of Crosses new works at Ding Yi’s Studio, including sculpture Appearance of Crosses Stele 2025-1 (2025) in the foreground © Ding Yi. Courtesy Lisson Gallery and ShanghART Gallery
