THE ALTERSEA OPERA: THE NORDIC COUNTRIES PAVILION'S PROPOSAL
For the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, the Nordic Countries Pavilion invites the audience to embark on a journey aboard a spectral dragon ship which occupies the light and open architecture of Sverre Fehn’s meditative masterpiece in the Giardini of the Biennale, Venice.
The 38-metre-long bamboo structure, which extends beyond the confines of the Pavilion, is book-ended by a huge and ornate dragon’s head prow and tail, which has voyaged from its mooring on the frozen waters of the Stockholm Archipelago to the Venetian Lagoon.
Conceived and conceptualized by Swedish artist Lap-See Lam, and realized in collaboration with Norwegian composer Tze Yeung Ho, Finnish textile artist Kholod Hawash, The Altersea Opera is a poetic exploration of the existential implications of displacement and belonging which veers between the real and the imaginary
Visitors become passengers as they cross the threshold into the skeletal vessel, powered by magical sails made of stories and filled with mythological water creatures trying to find their way back to the places of their past. A richly layered audio-visual installation, The Altersea Opera is inspired by the spirit of the Red Boat Opera Company – the travelling opera troupe which popularized Cantonese opera in the 19th century.
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Exterior installation view, Lap-See Lam, The Altersea Opera, 2024. With Kholod Hawash and Tze Yeung Ho.
The Nordic Countries Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale de Venezia, 20 April - 24 November, 2024.
Photo: Michael Miller/Moderna Museet. Textile work © Kholod Hawash. © Lap-See Lam. Courtesy the artist, Moderna Museet and Galerie Nordenhake. Dragon head made by Lu Guangzheng.
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Installation view, Lap-See Lam, The Altersea Opera, 2024. With Kholod Hawash and Tze Yeung Ho.
The Nordic Countries Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale de Venezia, 20 April - 24 November, 2024.
Photo: Michael Miller/Moderna Museet. Textile work ©️ Kholod Hawash. ©️ Lap-See Lam. Courtesy the artist, Moderna Museet and Galerie Nordenha
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From The Altersea Opera LIVE - a unique activation Friday 19 April and Saturday 20 April to mark the opening of The Altersea Opera, 2024, by Lap-See Lam with Kholod Hawash and Tze Yeung Ho. The Nordic Countries Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale de Venezia, 20 April - 24 November, 2024. Bruno Hibombo as Past Lo Ting, in background Anja Nedremo on saxophone, Ivan Cheng as Future Lo Ting, Joshua Spear on saxophone.
Photo: Jan Ahlstedt /Moderna Museet. Textile work © Kholod Hawash. © Lap-See Lam. Courtesy the artist, Moderna Museet and Galerie Nordenhake.ke.
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Detail. Installation view, Lap-See Lam, The Altersea Opera, 2024. With Kholod Hawash and Tze Yeung Ho.
The Nordic Countries Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale de Venezia, 20 April - 24 November, 2024.
Photo: Michael Miller/Moderna Museet. Textile work ©️ Kholod Hawash. ©️ Lap-See Lam. Courtesy the artist, Moderna Museet and Galerie Nordenhake.
Lap-See Lam’s research for the creation of the opera’s dragon ship took her to Hong Kong, and she has worked closely with master bamboo scaffolder Ho Yeung Chan. For centuries, bamboo scaffolding has played an important role in the cultural and architectural history of the region, and has been used to build temporary stages for Cantonese opera, a celebrated art form in Guangdong province in southern China.
The dragon ship is inspired by Floating Restaurant Sea Palace, a three-storey vessel built in Shanghai and towed to Gothenburg in 1991. When the business failed, it took on an afterlife as a ghost ship at the Gröna Lund theme park, where Lam discovered it in a dilapidated state before it was moved to its present home in a remote boatyard.
At the center of the installation, and brought to life by a film shot on board the Sea Palace, we find Lo Ting – half fish, half man – a figure from Hong Kong mythology reimagined across the passage of time through Lam’s script that tells the tale of his longing to return to a former home, Fragrant Harbour – only to find it transformed beyond recognition.
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Lap-See Lam, “The Altersea Opera”., 2024 Film still: Lisabi Fridell/Egerstrand&Blund. Textile work © Kholod Hawash. © Lap-See Lam. Courtesy the artist, Galerie Nordenhake and Moderna Museet.
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Textile work (detail), “The Altersea Opera”., 2024 Textile work © Kholod Hawash. Photo: My Matson/Moderna Museet
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From left to right: Artists Tze Yeung Ho, Lap-See Lam, Kholod Hawash infront of The Nordic Countries Pavilion, 60th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale de Venezia, 20 April - 24 November, 2024. Photo: Jan Ahlstedt /Moderna Museet. Courtesy the artist, Moderna Museet and Galerie Nordenhake.
The haunting composition by Tze Yeung Ho, which combines extended playing techniques with baroque ornamentation, is performed with an eclectic array of instruments. The piece blends the libretto, written by Lap-See Lam (with contributions by Ivan Cheng as Future Lo Ting) with poetry, lullabies, and pop songs that draw on the artists’ diverse cultural histories. Kholod Hawash’s textile works form a sculptural installation in the Pavilion. Her embroideries conjure a distinctive world of motifs, sewn stitch-by-stitch through jodaleia and tatreez (Arabic for quilting and embroidery), with elements from folktales and archaeological landscapes.
The Altersea Opera is curated by Asrin Haidari, Curator of Nordic Contemporary Art at Moderna Museet, Stockholm.
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