The China Pavilion is preparing for the 58th International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale. The theme of the upcoming showcase, all the four artists, as well as their works, were unveiled to the press on Tuesday.

The theme of this year's exhibition is "May You Live in Interesting Times."

And China Pavilion's response is "Re-Rui." Re is a prefix in many Western languages, which means again or return. Rui is a Chinese character with a similar sound, which means wisdom.

Wu Hongliang, vice president of Beijing Fine Arts Academy, is the man behind the China Pavilion theme.

"In fact, I want to touch the interesting part of the human world development through the exhibition. And we want to showcase our works in a comparatively Eastern and more accessible way. The China Pavilion's theme is our reflection on the current situation and the future. We find that many Chinese artists have been working on the topic in recent years. China's contemporary art scene has changed a lot. In the past, we focused more on those whole new mediums and critical topics. But we have turned to look back on art and the world," said Wu Hongliang, curator of the China Pavilion.

Four artists will carry the China Pavilion presentation. Chen Qi will present a large-scale traditional woodblock print installation, Fei Jun will "transplant" Chinese bridges over Venice canals by his mobile application. 

The only woman, sculptor Geng Xue, immerses her pregnancy experience and her thinking over birth and death in a clay sculpture filmlet. And the youngest of the four, He Xiangyu, sets his sentiment in sculptures and installations, sharing his memories of living in Berlin.

Qiu Zhijie has strong feelings for the Venice Biennale and has participated four times, as an artist and curator.

"Founded in 1895, the Venice Biennale is regarded as the Art Olympics. The China Pavilion was formally set up in 2005, and since then the contemporary art scene of China has been displayed to the whole world. We wish more artists and curators can join us," Qiu Zhijie said.

The China Pavilion will be open from May 11th to November 24th. Afterward, the exhibition will tour in some galleries around China. 

(Cover: "Re-Search" by Fei Jun. /Photo courtesy of the organizer)