N ISLAND OF LIGHT
1–30 September 2026
Homo Faber Biennial 2026
The fourth edition of Homo Faber Biennial at Fondazione Giorgio Cini, Venice, celebrates the profound relationship between light, materials, and the human hand.
Curated and staged by Artistic Director Es Devlin, 15 immersive installations bring together hundreds of handcrafted works by artisans from around the world. Inspired by the Venetian lagoon, light, water, mirrors, and movement create a sensory journey through craftsmanship, creativity, and human ingenuity.
Among the remarkable works presented are the Blue Hatch Vase by Kazuhiro Toyama and Dandelion by Shota Suzuki.
How do the flowers [dahlias] transform into blue flowers? The answer lies in the nature of color-negative photography, in which colors are reversed into their respective complements. Warm hues such as red and yellow are thus transformed into cool shades of blue. At the same time, tonal relationships are inverted: light becomes shadow, while shadow emerges as light.
From within this darkness, a blue flower comes into being.
The seemingly familiar flowers are imbued with the magic of photography, revealing an entirely new presence before our eyes. I have become spellbound by this enigmatic beauty, which conceals both a sense of mystic purity and an indefinable mystery. I would be delighted if this magical world of flowers—unfolding just behind the reality we know—could be shared with you all.
Blue Flower - Dahlia by Yoichiro Nishimura
